On the 19 September 2010 I started a Day Zero list: a place to record your goals, discover new challenges, and gain motivation to achieve them. I have a list of 100 things I want to do over 1001 days. The list is due to be competed by 16 June 2013. This month has been quite busy so although I feel like I have achieved lots of things, none of them were on my list! 8. Attend an auction I’ve looked and can’t find any auctions near us. Instead we went to the Antiques Fair at Alexandra Palace. I don’t…
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Last week we ventured to our first Antiques Fair, literally on our doorstep at Alexandra Palace. Every year we’ve seen it advertised but this year we were able to go. The entrance was a reasonable £5 which gave you access to the beautiful building and about 350 antiques sellers and their stalls. I was pleasantly surprised with the quality of the antiques, which were all 20th century. I saw so many items I would have loved to have bought, lots of sewing notions, childrens’ toys, ceramics, art, books and some beautiful items of furniture. We were both very restrained due…
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I found a lovely vintage toy last week which I snapped up as soon as I saw it! It was in the ‘cabinet’ where they place the items of higher value but it was marked a reasonable sum. I love the bright colours of the humming top and it’s illustrated with the characters from the nursery rhyme ‘Hey diddle diddle’. It was made by Chad Valley in England – I am a complete sucker for vintage British toys. Fortunately it’s not too big so will look great on a shelf in the nursery (I just need to persuade my husband…
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Last week was a bit crazy. It started with Edward’s first trip to the cinema, his first photo shoot for Mother & Baby magazine, a trip to the Gurgle blog awards (where I came third in my category and won a £250 Mothercare voucher) and ended with lunch with Elmo. Crazy, amazing and quite tiring for a toddler and a mummy with a big bump. But somehow I managed to squeeze in a trip to the shops. Oops, I couldn’t help myself but I came home with two more vintage jigsaws at the weekend. I just couldn’t resist their round…
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I’m a bit of a craft addict and if I didn’t have my hobbies sometimes I think I would go crazy. I love having several projects on the go and at the moment I am planning some appliqued tshirts for Edward, a cot cover/crawling blanket for the Second Baby as well as some fun autumn and Christmas crafts. Unfortunately we don’t have much space for my craft supplies so they are dotted around the gingerbread house until we move somewhere bigger next year. As well as my lovely Cath Kidston sewing basket and shelves of sewing books I have jars…
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My most recent thrifted find was this lovely little vintage suitcase. I can’t imagine why anyone would make, let along buy, such a small suitcase. Perhaps it’s just me who can’t leave home without the kitchen sink! Anyway, it’s made of cardboard and lined with paper and I thought it would be a perfect backdrop for my photographs which I’m really trying to improve this year. It needed a bit of cheering up though so I purchased some Orla Kiely wrapping paper, featuring my favourite colourful stem print. The paper is reversible – small stem print on one side and…
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I was so excited to find a vintage card game recently as I’ve been on the look out for some vintage letter cards. This version of Kan-U-Go is stamped 41 Nov 1958 (that’s not a typo – it does say the 41st!). I think the game was a kind of precursor to scrabble, with cards instead of tiles. I had to struggle with my inner curator as this is the first time I’ve ever bought something with the idea of re-using a part of it for something else. I haven’t tried playing the game but the letters are perfect for…
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A couple of weeks ago we were driving home through the streets of North London and I spotted a pile of wooden boxes by the side of a skip. I’m not sure what made us stop but we reversed back down the road and I got out to take a closer look. There was an old wooden tabletop file cabinet and a wooden crate. I’m not sure what the etiquette is regarding taking unwanted items from the roadside but as there was no-one around to ask we put both items in the car boot and went home. The crate didn’t…
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This has to be my most favourite thrifted find EVER! It may not look much but it’s my perfect find, a vintage double decker London bus. It has seen better days, is faded, missing its advertising stickers and internal mechanics but I don’t think it detracts from its’ wonderful vintage-ness! After a bit of searching I found it is a 1950s early molded polyethylene bus, made in England, by Popular Plastic Products. The rear wheels have a friction drive mechanism which is sadly missing. I definitely bought this for myself rather than my son. I think it is very Cath…