Andrea-doll

A couple of pictures of the paper doll I made for Andrea who won my giveaway last month.

Vinyl Fantasy

A few silly photos from our record party on Saturday..

Record Bowl Tutorial!

Last weekend we had a vinyl party in our new home, in which we listened to lots of old records with friends, so I thought it'd be fun to make a record bowl to put snacks inside. It was really easy to make, here's how:



1. Preheat your oven to about 225 C, remember to ventilate your kitchen by opening a window

2. Place your (unwanted - i chose bananarama, apologies fans..) record on top of an upside-down ovenproof bowl and put inside the oven for a few minutes.



3. Keep a watch on it and after 3-5 mins it should start to melt

4. Put on some oven gloves (although its not really that hot) and get the record out, then shape into a glass/metal bowl. The record will go hard again quite fast so you have to be quick!

5. Wait to cool, give it a rinse and ta-da! You can use them for snacks, sweets or even plant pot holders.

Good things found on the interweb this week

I want to go beachcombing at Dead Horse Bay (pictured above) where vintage bottles wash up on the shore for you to collect, seen on an Apple a Day

These embroidered version of Penguin classics by Jillian Tamaki are amazing. via meet me at mike's

I love this list: Things to do this Spring by hula seventy

It's the time of year to enter Hatch's easter egg decorating contest, view the entries here.. spotted on design work life

I really want to take part in Spring Colours Week, where you submit photos of a different colour every day next week. You can see them on the flickr pool here. The colours are: Monday April 4th: Green, Tuesday: Yellow Wednesday: Pink Thursday: Lavendar Friday: Pink

Cheer up love..

Hehe. This used to happen to me pretty often. Why do (usually old) men feel the need to comment on how sad or happy a person looks?! - Image by KrisAtomic

A night of jewellery making..

On Friday night I got together with a couple of friends and learnt how to make jewellery. Some of it was very fiddly (eg putting clasps on the end of necklaces) but it was so much fun, and a few glasses of wine didn't seem to harm our designs too much either! It was great to spend a night making things and we were quite proud of our end results. Next time we're planning to experiment with drawing some designs on shrink plastic.







The necklace i made!











Jen's necklace!

Film Friday: Submarine

This week I went to see the debut film by Richard Ayoade, Submarine. It's a coming of age story about a boy named Oliver Tate whose main aim is to snare a girlfriend, and also save his parent's marriage which is on the rocks after Graham rolls up (brilliantly played by Paddy Considine). Included in the film were all my favourite things (er maybe cos it was set in the 80s...); polaroids, typewriters, mixtapes and duffel coats.

Record cake stands!

Image via here

Really want to make one of these!

Guest Post at Goodnight Little Spoon!

Bianca is running a lovely little series this week called Things I Like to Discover about People. I've really enjoyed reading the entries so far, and mine is now up on her blog too, yay!

Things I Like Right Now

Some things that are brightening up my March.

1 Fresh daffodils.

Since moving I've become addicted to buying fresh flowers and these were a housewarming gift from a friend at the weekend.



2 Puzzle Bobble.

Can't stop playing this classic game, it's highly addictive.



3 New recipes.

So far this month: falafel burgers, cajun salmon, and carrot cake have all been hits, yum!


4 Miss Moss' Music Mixes

Check out the mixes you can download here. Some great compilations on different themes.




5. Dressing up in silly outfits

Always cheers me up!

Vintage Finds: 1970s Air Organ

I'm not entirely sure what this instrument is officially called but when I spotted it I fell in love with it, and at £20 it was a bit of a bargain to boot. It sounds a little like an accordion.. here's a photo of Tom having a go (and a video of him playing his latest song here!)





I also picked up this kitty letter rack from Daphne's Handbag at the weekend, i think it's from the 50s or 60s.. because everyone needs a letter rack right?

Weekender

I was so happy on friday when the sun finally came out, and yesterday it really seemed like Spring was here. We finally had chance to make the most of our communal garden and had an impromptu picnic with some snacks and homemade carrot cake in the sunshine.

A Guide to Nottingham Part 1 - Vintage

Above: Records on sale at Tat, Mansfield Rd.

This month I decided to try and buy only second hand or vintage items (apart from the essentials of course!), so I thought it would be fun to share a few of my favourite vintage havens in Nottingham with anyone living here or planning a visit.

Daphne's Handbag, Mansfield Rd

Daphne's is situated near the bottom of Mansfield Rd and is one of my favourite places to browse as the contents of the shop includes a bit of everything, from typewriters to vintage sunglasses. The staff can be a little surly at times but the varied contents of the shop usually makes up for it!





"Tat" Record Shop, Mansfield Rd

This shop stocks LOADS of cheap records. Recently I've picked up a copy of Thriller, a Beatles best of and a Leonard Cohen greatest hits, all for a couple of pounds each. There's also old suitcases, photographs and other paraphenalia on sale pretty cheaply. And downstairs amongst the records lives this rather friendly black cat (which means you do have to try and ignore the cat smell down there!..)





Laura's Vintage Store, Alfreton Rd

I got very excited when I spotted a new vintage store with my name on it, situated on Alfreton Rd, near Canning Circus. Yesterday I popped in and had a look around. The shop's quite small but the owner's very friendly and it's worth a visit to see what you can find within.

Celia's Vintage Clothing, Derby Rd

It's easy to miss the vintage section in Celia's as the upstairs is devoted to fancy dress, but downstairs is a treasure trove of (slightly pricey) vintage clothing.





Recreation, West End Arcade, near the Market Square

I recently chanced upon this fairly new looking vintage shop, which sells artworks and other collectables and a wide range of unusual old musical instruments (one of which I had to buy- I will share it in a post soon!)

And finally... Le Chien et Moi, Derby Rd



This shop mainly specialises in fancy giftware but I wanted to include it as upon entering the shop, their friendly bassett hound Mulberry waddles out to greet you. Isn't he sweet?