My other job - an update

a few weeks ago I was spotted taking photo's of NB, my favourite place to live.....sort of, if I don't think too hard about anywhere else I'd like to live.....
Anyway - I have now started playing with these images and trying out different techniques from the C&G textiles course I am leading.
I have made some soft cut lino blocks.....

Played with Magic stamp .....

 Combined the two.....

 Just Magic stamp...

 A bit of everything.....

 Sketchbook work...

Shibori and stamping....

New Vintage Ventures

Here is my next venture into the great Vintage selling lark:

 The Lovely Northampton Handmade & Vintage people Trevor and Ann: 

I will be joining them for their first venture into Buckingham on the 1st of April.

I have done really well with them in Northampton, Olney and Market Harborough, so I know Buckingham will be delightful too!

Click on the poster to whizz to their lovely site.

.....and this fair I did last Sunday

One fat Hen organised their first Vintage Fair in Yardley Hastings in Northamptonshire - and what a fair! Very well organised and attended, lots of lovely sellers and buyers, it's always good to catch-up with friends from the last couple of years. Click on the poster :)

                   

This is my new 'flying brooch' I hope it will fly out,
and last weekend in Yardley Hastings, it just about did!
The lovely fair

Lots of variations planned, I've just got to get round to making
them and putting them on Etsy I think.....message me if you would like
your own 'best' badge for someone special.

( I have not got the hang of these photo's yet, sorry and all that, but looks like I am going for the quirky composition whether I like it or not!)


See you around and about I hope xx

Oh good grief, It's March!

I have been really busy- honest! There is an abundance of Vintage & Handmade fairs around and about at the moment - and it's lovely to be invited and involved in them!

Here are a few snap-shots of my stall at the the MK Vintage & Handmade weekend fair at the Center MK recently.

I was sharing a stall with the lovely Susanna from Hearts-n-kisses. The fair was open for the time the shopping centre is open, until 7pm.

A close up of some new aroma hearts - they smell of
either gingerbread or roses!

My shared stall was end on to the crowds, so
I had to be enterprising with my display. Thanks to
Aunty Gladys and her trusty suitcases and
tiny table, I saved the day.

I am rather loving these little liberty brooches and my favourite
buttons.

The lights we had were really useful at about 4.40, when the natural daylight
dimmed. £3.50's worth of Ikea light well spent I say.

The union jack brooches in the foreground are selling well, for Jubilee and Olympic celebrations.

The place where I live......printing.

I like where I live. Which is handy really, as this is where we are planning to stay - for ever!

The reason I chose this place over other similar areas in MK was the Green with the municipal clock. The varied arrangement of Victorian Terrace houses, different on every street, some streets changing style of house in every block as different builders put them up.

And there are some lovely quirky buildings, this one used to be a one-room drinking house.

And one of these was the butchers.

So to the great embarrassment of my boys (you can just see one running off and one bobbing down trying not to be seen!) on the way home from school last week I took a few pictures to use as inspiration for a print project.

I played around in the sketchbook and carved some soft-cut lino.

 Then got a bit carried away with the different ways I could use these two blocks.

 

I'm not entirely sure how I am going to use the ideas, I did purchase some System 3 Textile medium, which might be the answer, but I just enjoyed playing and repeating the images.

There is a windmill in the village too, so there is room for a quirky addition to the scene, lucky us!

November garden

Occasionally I take pictures of things in our tiny garden, we had a tidy up at the weekend and everything is bare, but thankfully there are a couple of treasures to be seen still.

The big beautiful heads of an artichoke......

The studding purple berries of some shrub I cannot remember it's name - no use to anyone I know, sorry. It's just a haze of purple that stays all winter if we are lucky, I love it!

.....and a passion flower, we only had 3 flowers this year so this one is an added bonus to a cold, grey November day in Milton Keynes.

These are on their way out, but still add some lovely yellow to a corner.

Purple and artichokes......just to finish off the day. xx

The Stony Report

In spite of the first grey day for a long while, the rain held off on Saturday in Stony Stratford (for those interested, it was the setting for that iconic film "Withnail and I").....a lovely traditional town with fabulous high street full of independent shops........and a great Georgian Community Building York Hall!

Foot flow was steady, but very enthusiastic and I think most sellers had a good day. 

Here are some pics borrowed from a Facebook album, by Neighbourhood Laundry :)

Better plug my own work first.......it would be rude not too!

Making draft excluders, as you do! Lovely vintage fabrics.

This lady is a neighbour of mine and we had no idea we both did these events until Saturday  "hello Lizzie" :)

This brave man stood outside all day, brave indeed, but he looks happy enough.

A quiet moment, but you ca see how lovely the hall looked and a corner of my stall with a rather lovely display of gingerbread trees in an old wooden crate.

......lots of eclectic sellers with lovely tempting delights and there is a very cute folding table hiding under here that I purchased - so cute it had to come home with me.

Looking forward to Market Harborough on the 19th, I certainly love this mix of Handmade AND Vintage, you get a lovely class of customer - haha! 

Jane x

Remember, remember - the 5th of November!

haha..... a Christmas fair in Stony Stratford (what else could there be?)

A new venture and outing for some lovely Pre-loved sellers in Milton Keynes and they invited me to their party on Saturday :)

I've got a new range of shrinky cameo's.....

A delicious collection of gingerbread smelling ornaments!

and a few new festive decorations, some smell, some don't!

Hope to see some of you there.....

Jane x