On My Travels

The little mohair dog on the right is my latest addition to my collection, he was in the bottom of a mixed box of junk at our local auction.

The last couple of weeks have been really hectic so not much time for blogging or reading all my favourite blogs. I have been busy helping Mr C source new stock for our stall at Brackley Antiques Cellar as well as having a few days out with my lovely girl and of course working full time too. We have managed to fit in a trip to see Calendar Girls with my mum which was good fun and a shopping trip to Birmingham.My lovely girl wanted to check out the new Forever 21 shop just opened in the Bullring having loved it when we were in New York last December. I didn't object too much as it was a good excuse to go to Cath Kidston in Selfridges.

I bought some Christmas goodies including a Christmas stocking and Christmas tea towel in a tin not in the photo. The paper chains are really sweet , I just have to make them now !

The little kissing boy and girl are salt and pepper pots that I found in a junk shop , they are now safely installed on my dresser shelf.

The kitchen table covered in treasures from our trips including some lovely china and glass candlesticks from the gorgeous Rags and Roses shop in Nuneaton where my mum lives. Please give Sue and Chris a visit if you are anywhere nearby as you will receive a very warm welcome. Sue makes beautiful hand made cushions and bunting and Chris makes gorgeous mosaics from broken vintage china. Hopefully they will be making an appearance at our next Northampton Vintage and Home made Fair in the Spring.

Mr C found the lovely Deco tea set on his travels and sadly it has now had to go to our little stall in Brackley. I can't keep everything !

I bought these cute Christmas decorations from Wilkinsons for 80p each having spotted them on Annie's blog (The Felt Fairy).

This lovely tray was also from Rags and Roses and will probably find it's way to our Brackley stall.

Mr C painted an old frame and framed my Christmas classroom poster. This is now up on our wall, the first nod to Christmas so far in the house.

Finally this is the gorgeous snugly blanket my mum bought me from her local Dunelm shop. I saw it on Bellas Country blog and thought it would be just right for snuggling on the sofa in this chilly weather.

Brackley Antiques Cellar

This is our new little venture, a small space became available over at Brackley Antique Cellar. This is an amazing place, one of the largest antiques centres I have been to and full of lovely vintage things as well as an interiors room with shabby chic style home wares and Cath Kidston goodies. There is also a cafe where you can get hot food or just tea and cake. Debbie and I are sharing this space to see how it goes. In fairness it is more Mr C than me. My work commitments are quite high at the moment and he has more time and flexibility to go backwards and forewards to re-stock and keep all the records etc. Not that I am complaining as it means he does the hard work and I do the fun bit going out on little buying trips with him. This is a picture as we were setting up on Friday and there is still some work to be done to pretty the area up a bit.

If you are anywhere near Northamptonshire I would recommend a visit and of course please look out for our little space at unit 95. If you do plan a trip allow yourself a good couple of hours to look round, you won't be disappointed.
Since writing this post I have now moved to a larger space which is unit 60.

Mr C spotted this little cupboard at Brackley and brought it home to do some work on it. The doors had been paneled in and covered with pretty paper but we want to use it for display so Mr C is re-fitting the glass in to the doors. It goes really well with my old W.I. cabinet so will probably go somewhere in the hall when it is finished.

I found the picture at the top for a couple of pounds last week.I bought it because it is by the artist Frank Sherwin who was famous for painting railway posters from the 1930s onwards. The picture below is an original Frank Sherwin water colour I found in a charity shop some years ago. When I found the picture at the top I thought it was a print until I got it home. Mr C took it apart to clean it and renovate the frame and we discovered it was yet another original ! It is of Barking House on the Isle of Arran.

Mr C, has been painting old frames in the lovely Annie Sloan chalk paint and re-framing old prints ready to take to Brackley. The yellowy, cream paint sets the pictures of beautifully and gives them a new lease of life.

Mr C found this for me as a surprise last week, yet another painted glass with a crinoline lady to match the one he bought me a few moths ago. I love painted glass and this one is a particularly elegant cocktail glass. I have to say he certainly seems to be getting better at spotting things he knows I will like, the training is obviously paying off !

Candles and Cashmere

Tonight is very chilly and I have wrapped myself up in an eiderdown and lit some candles. This Christmas Cupcake candle is really scrummy as is the Cider Apple Yankee Candle I also bought yesterday.

Over the last week or so Mr C and I have had a few trips out. Olney is a lovely little market town and I found some gorgeous vintage cashmere cardigans in an array of wonderful colours. These were in the newly opened Dodo Antiques shop which is well worth a visit. I treated myself to a gold one and a turquoise one with pink flowers at a fraction of the price you would pay for new.

I also couldn't resist these beautiful Avoca soaps with wonderful names.

We also went to Brackley , another lovely little town with the wonderful Antiques Cellar (more on that in my next post). I found these pretty drawers to add to my collection.

This must surely be my best bargain in ages, I spotted this Jan Constantine wool blanket amongst Carol's goodies at the Northampton Antiques Centre. It had been hers and for some reason she had decided she didn't want it anymore and sold it to me for a fraction of it's original price. It looks great with my Jan Constantine cushion and will be just right for snuggling on the sofa.

These pictures were charity shop finds a few weeks ago. The frames were in a sorry state but Mr C has painted them and put them back together. The pictures are by E W Haslehust who was well known for his paintings used in railway posters. I originally thought I would sell them but I actually really like the sunny colours and coastal views.

We also visited the Discover Vintage Fair in Leamington Spa and caught up with bloggy friends including Jo from Hesta Nesta and Vicky from Vicky Loves Vintage. Mr C bought this reconditioned vintage phone which is now in use and has the loveliest ring. My lovely girl is not impressed and is still struggling to use it ! We have given in and agreed to have the hand held phones in use too.

This weekend was the Hand Made and Vintage Fair in Stony Stratford. It was held over three floors in this lovely building.

Mr C found me this old rag rug. I know it looks tatty but it can be tidied up and I have already given it a gentle hand wash. Close up there is red and white gingham and fabrics of all different types and textures.

The hat box was another find to add to my other two found in a charity shop some months back. It is the same sort of texture as the little set of drawers.

Last but not least, this jewellery box was presented to me by my lovely girl. She made it as part of her GCSE DT last year and got to bring it home a few days ago. Inside is a mirror and perfectly made little drawers. This is something I will treasure and use every day.

Half Term Trip

Last week we had one of our traditional half term trips to London. We sent to see Mamma Mia and loved it.

We did some shopping as you would expect and also quite a lot of window shopping ! This was the display in Church's shoe shop near Savile Row. Northampton is famous for shoe making and it was lovely to see the display in this very smart window saying 'Made In Northampton'.

We had a wander around some of the beautiful shopping arcades.

We loved this display of pastel coloured macaroons.

We then headed in to Fortnum and Masons

the shop windows were all decorated for Halloween

inside were wonderfully carved pumpkins

and pumpkin cakes.

Of course there were also plenty of Christmas decorations, this staircase looked stunning.

This is Mr Holmes outside Baker street tube station.

I am sure you can guess where this is, we decided to go to the shop on Marlebone High Street as we had never been there before. From the outside the building lacks the character of most of her other shops but inside it was exactly as you would expect.

This patchwork is actually wallpaper

I love this beautiful digital printed wallpaper but it is incredibly expensive

the shop windows were very Christmassy

I treated myself to Christmas crackers, a set of Christmas tea towels( I buy some every year), some serviettes and a tin of Christmas tags. The tags are lovely and I have already decided to use some to make a Christmas garland rather than use them all on presents.