30

Last week, the husband turned thirty (old man, old man, old man, guffaw), and because everything is so disorganised at the moment with our new house (long story, don't ask, gaaaah), we decided to just go out for the afternoon with the kidlets. Present wise, he'd already had a new jacket a month or so ago, so I just had to buy him a present 'from the children' (gah, cliche alert) - he needed a new bag for work, and the gym, and computer game marathons at his friends house, so I searched around online and came up with... nothing. Everything seemed to be overpriced, made from rubbish materials and about as far removed from ethically produced as you could get - not even slightly what I was after. I vaguely remembered Hannah from Seeds and Stitches (Queen of all things environmental!) and her Mister had chosen an eco-friendly vintage-style backpack to use as an alternative to a changing bag, so I looked up the company.

Kanken bags, first manufactured in the 1970's, are made by Swedish company Fjallraven, who are about as environmentally friendly as you can get. As well as their wonderful bags, they also sell all sorts of outdoor equipment and clothing, all ethically produced and carbon offset. Read more about the brand and their principles here, and find a wide range of Kanken bags here. I opted for the classic version for the husbands birthday, but we've decided to get one of the larger vintage style rucksacks for our days out - we usually end up laden down with a changing bag, a cool bag, two reusable supermarket bags and a blanket for good measure. Add two children to the mix, and a fun day out soon turns into a complete logistical nightmare. God bless the backpack!

We had lunch on the common; a whole bag of Marks and Spencers finest goodies, finished off with ginger beer and cranberry lemonade. In an ideal world I would have packed a picnic at home, lots of cous cous, pasta salad, chorizo and cheeses, crusty bread and biscuits, but as the kitchen is full of boxes and the fridge isn't even plugged in yet, it was a bit of a non-starter.

The food was followed by a whole lot of running around with a football (Benjamin and the Husband) and a whole lot of napping (me and the baby).

When sunhats go bad....

The wind started to pick up a bit, so we all piled in to the car and took a wander round the shops. Benjamin met Elvis, I enquired about a second hand record player (oddly, I've collected loads of records, but have nothing to play them on....) and we had a look at some antiques.

As nice as it was, going out for the day with two children (especially when one is a baby who is bottle fed, oh the palaver) is incredibly stressful at times - Benjamin managed to find the only patch of bird poo on the common and roll in it, Daisy wouldn't take her feed properly and the weather turned chilly. It's our second anniversary on the 2nd July, and we're off to Brighton for the day - we're going here for our usual lunch, and I'm dying to try this place for an afternoon tea - sans children (thanks Mum!). I've got high hopes for Snoopers Paradise this time, I've just got a feeling I'm going to find something amazing.

latest thrifts

Even though we've been in complete house related chaos (everything is almost, almost finished now - slowly, slowly, catchy monkey), I've still managed to find time to get to the charity shops (because thrifters never say die!)

My first grand find was in the Salvation Army shop in town (Portsmouth for any of you who don't know where I hail from) - this is the mother of all charity shops, and I think it's actually a bit of a hidden gem. They have one of the biggest and best ranges of china and glassware ever, all laid out on tables so you can have a proper good rummage - none of this stacking things inside each other. I've lost count of how many times I've been in other shops, taking things off shelves and apologising to customers for blocking the aisles, in a desperate bid to get a brilliant bit of pyrex or a teacup. I realise that half the fun of thrifting is in the chase, but sometimes it's nice to just have it a bit easier. On this particular visit I got six teacups for two quid (TWO QUID! Can you believe that?!), and a milk jug and small bowl for a mere £3. 

My second favourite charity shop is The Ark - they actually have two branches, one in North End and one in  Southsea (on Albert Road, AKA the Best Street Ever in the History of Streets in the Entire World. Home to the best vintage shop, a lovely homewares boutique and the best tiny teashop ever). They sell anything and everything - going in there is like going into an Aladdins Cave of quality tat, my favourite kind of shop. Like the Salvation Army, they do a fine line in old china, and have a whole load of plates, tea cups and glassware - but you'll need to be prepared to scrabble about for a bit. They also sell the best (and I mean, BEST) vintage furniture for quality prices. I got an old cabinet for £8 a year or so ago, and they always have bargain 1950's wardrobes and cupboards in great condition. If you venture towards the back, you'll find old records and loads of linen - duvet covers, curtains and pillow cases - all perfect to use as they are, or to cut up and make into something shiny and new. I found the loveliest floral milk jug (are we sensing a pattern here...?) for a pound, and almost went home with a wicker table too, but gave it up when the Husband did his raised eyebrow thing.

My third thrifting triumph was in one of the newest charity shops in Waterlooville (where they usually just sell overpriced pre-owned Primark, ugh) - it's so new, I can't even remember which charity runs it (is that awful? It is, isn't it... oh dear), and I've never been in there before. I just happened to be passing and thought I'd go in on the offchance that they might possibly have a wooden abacus (which I've been after for AGES, but don't want to buy new). On the surface they look quite disappointing, but have a pretty good book section, and the odd wooden toy. There were no abacuses, but I did get this fab stacking rings toy for £3 - when I tried to pay by card (I know, right, who pays by card in a charity shop?), it turned out there was a minimum spend of £5, so I had to wander round again and find something else. Tucked in the corner, sandwiched between a chick-lit novel and the autobiography of some footballer, was one of the most beautiful books I have ever seen - the limited edition, illustrated version of Cider With Rosie. It was £3. It now sits on the bookshelf in the lounge (or it will do, when we finally put it up). 

My last bargain was less thrift and more gift - I got fifteen jam jars (planning a foray into jam making, now I have a garden to grow in) for absolutely nothing, nada, zero, zilch, on my first foray into the world of Freecycle, that wonderful place where you can find people trying to offload their shite onto other people. I love this website, I love the thinking behind it (less consumption, less waste, less crap heading to landfills), and the listings make for really entertaining reading. On my last browse, I found someone offering a stained mattress and an electric breast pump that didn't work. Genius!

Oh, and a lovely, lovely friend picked up some pyrex for me at a car boot sale - they look pretty great on my open shelves in the kitchen.

Linking up for the first time ever with Missie Lizzie and Magpie Monday (discovered by the pretty great Lulastic blog) - hurrah for second-hand!

the best little vintage shop in the world

A while back, I read about a new online shop that stocked vintage childrens clothing over on Hannah's blog, Seeds and Stitches. I drooled over the stock (seriously good!), bookmarked the page and then got stuck into moving house, subsequently forgetting all about it.Until the other week when an e-mail from the shops owner, Emily, dropped into my inbox.

Never one to pass up the opportunity for a good sticky beak, I asked if she'd do a little interview for the blog (I'm thinking of making this a regular thing with shops, crafters and the like), and she agreed. Hurrah!

First things first, what's your name, how old are you, and where do you live? (Not trying to sound like a gameshow host, honest.....) What do you like about your home?
I'm Emily Silverwood, 28, from New Cross in London. I love my house. I love the parks around here for walking the pup. I love having great friends nearby, although as we get older more people are moving away.

How did you come across the idea of starting a vintage children's shop? Why not just do adult clothes like everybody else?
If I had thought about it ten years ago, I would have, and I have considered it in the past. I started thinking about babies, and then my friends started having them, I thought there was a sneaky gap in the market for a little shop, and Little Vintage was born!

Where do you find all your lovely pieces? 
All over. Car boot sales, flea markets, charity shops, church sales, eBay.... basically I spend evenings and weekends searching out gems. It's a good job I enjoy it!

How do you identify which era different pieces are from?
This is a tricky one, my background in fashion helps! Generally I just follow the same rules as adults clothing, looking at fabric, trims, styling details, etc. and if in doubt I Google it.

What is your favourite era with regards to children's clothing?
I can't decide! I honestly like them all. The 80's bits are really fun, and SO cute. I just bought a 1980's dinosaur print dress, in super bright colours, how fun? It'll be in the shop soon.

Do you wear vintage clothes yourself? Where do you like to shop?
Yes! I have done for years - it came from a desire to look different to everyone else at the beginning, but now is part generally loving things old, part loving thrifting and part ethical reasons. I shop in charity shops, on eBay, at markets, I used to go to a lot of vintage fairs too. The great thing about vintage is that you don't feel the 'need' to update your wardrobe all the time, it's so classic that it transcends seasons.

What are your plans for the future?
I'm planning on a 'Handmade by Little Vintage' or 'Little Vintage Handmade' or 'Little Handmade Vintage', which will be vintage inspired handmade (obviously) clothing made using vintage patterns, fabrics and trims. I plan on starting to make stock properly in the summer holidays from school. Four weeks and counting!

If you didn't have a vintage shop, what would you be doing?
I still have my day job (which used to be as a buyer for a big department store, but I quit to work in a Primary school part time while I worked on Little Vintage as well), and being completely honest I wouldn't be doing anything extra. Any free time I have not spent on the shop is spent walking the dog, crafting or tidying. I spend A LOT of time tidying, I'm not quite sure why....

Do you have any tips for budding entrepreneurs?
It sounds cliched but just do it. If money is an issue, start saving. I occasionally work as a personal stylist for a friends company on a freelance basis and it pays pretty well, I saved up using that cash and spent it all on stock, business cards, web hosting and all that jazz. I also started collecting stock little by little, and probably collected for about six months or so before I actually set up the shop online.

There's even an accessories section, hurrah

Thank you to Emily for taking the time to answer my incredibly nosy cow-ish questions. You can find oodles of vintage loveliness in her shop, and can contact her by using the form on the website.

NOTE: I wasn't paid in any way for agreeing to feature Little Vintage, but after we'd done the interview, Emily sent me two dresses for Daisy. I was incredibly grateful, but had they not been my cup of tea, I would have sent them straight back. This is a not-for-profit blog, just a small diary of my life and the things I love, and I don't feature products or businesses that aren't in keeping with the content simply for payment. So don't ask!

beaching, babywearing, crocheting, gardening, reading, pondering

The internet, blogs, Twitter and Facebook (not to mention every TV channel apart from Challenge) have been rammed full of Jubilee coverage this weekend, and we've joined in with.... absolutely nothing. I've been loving our Sleepy Wrap (now called the Boba wrap), and there was a bit of this:

...and the boys did a bit of this...

We admired some beach huts, and I found it hard not to be scathingly jealous of the family who were gathered in one. (I've heard that they can go for up to £60,000.... insane, no?!) Portsmouth isn't great for independent shops and cafes (there are some, but not within walking distance of where we live) but I do feel pretty lucky to be only a few minutes drive away from the sea in one direction, and the country in the other. And our house, which I now lovingly call 'The Shithole' is surrounded by loads of trees and is probably as close to living in the country for now as we'll get. 

I can't describe how good it was to get out in the fresh air, away from rotting walls and faulty electrics, in clothes that didn't reek of white gloss paint. To just wander about, throw some stones and then spend a good half an hour wandering through Waterstones. (I usually buy on Amazon, but was too impatient to wait - I'd love to have a good, local, independent book shop to go to - set one up, someone?) I bought books for my Mum and the Husband, and two for myself - a fiction novel, and Cupcakes and Kalashnikovs, which I've read amazing things about. When I skimmed through the list of women writers who were included in the anthology, I got a bit excited to see the names of Daphne Du Maurier (one of my favourite authors), Nancy Mitford, Sylvia Pankhurst, Naomi Wolf and Zelda Fitzgerald on the list. There's nothing better than that excited feeling you get when you open the cover of a new book, and realise it's going to be a good one.

I've been working on the crochet blanket as well - Benjamin (I've decided from here on out to call him by his actual name - I used 'the Boy' when I first started blogging and wasn't sure just how much about my life I wanted to reveal) goes to bed at 7pm, and Daisy has already been fed by then and usually sleeps until 9pm (honestly, I still have to pinch myself when I think about what an easy baby she is - I was expecting a repeat of the first time, but it couldn't be any more different!), so I'm lucky enough to have a couple of hours to read, or crochet or whatever. I love, love, love this stitch - it's so addictive, just a double and two trebles into the same stitch, and you're away. 

I've been watching far less television lately, instead reading more and more blogs and online magazines. I've stumbled across some great feminist blogs (it's more about equality and fair treatment than burning bras these days, fact fans - I've always harped on to the Husband about how we split everything fifty-fifty, that I don't expect to be a 'kept woman' and that I'm more than just someone who irons shirts and makes casseroles), and I really enjoyed this article on 'outlaw mothers' found via the great Lulastic blog in this post. I've been reading up on activism as well, and am thinking about joining in with the Craftivism Collective's summer project of tomato jam and hand stitched lids, to support Oxfam's Grow campaign. I've never made jam before and have wanted to try for ages, so this would sort of kill two birds with one stone, plus it's for a great cause. Waste is something I plan on seriously tackling once we get sorted - that and aiming for a more vegetarian diet. Over the last few years I've eaten less and less meat, so now I just need to get my boys involved and Benjamin doesn't seem to be a great meat eater anyway (unless it's bacon!) I've been dying to try out my River Cottage Veg Everyday book, and I've got a couple of Ottam recipes bookmarked, nom nom nom.

The house is coming along - I planted out our lavender and sunflowers today, and it turns out that the previous tenants had left a carnation plant,a peony and a fuschia tree. And, more oddly, some wheat and barley - fresh cut flowers and homebrew, anyone?

the tipping point

I don't usually post about political issues on this blog - not because I'm not interested, or because I don't read up on it, but because I don't like to start internet debates that encourage angry commenting frenzies. Today, however, I've decided to join the many other bloggers and journalists to speak out about the tipping point - the recent atrocities in Syria.

49 of the innocent people slaughtered were children. Helpless, defenceless children. I don't want to reproduce the events here, so to read further details, the Times has put the article outside the paywall for today, June 1st - the day when bloggers all over the world have united to speak out against the violence and horrors.

You can find links to more posts, and speak out yourself using the #tippingpoint hashtag on Twitter, sign petitions at Avaaz and Amnesty International and read about taking more action online.

Don't just speak out, shout out.

a brief hiatus....

...mostly due to this....

Our house move is taking a little longer than we anticipated, mostly due to the rental agent refusing to fix absolutely anything, a brief meeting with our landlords, and the green light to do 'whatever we want'. Some people consider spending money on a rental property a complete waste, but we intend to be here for a looooong time - and why wouldn't I want to make our home right for us? So the Husband has been despatched to paint everything white, there's been new carpets, new floor tiles, a re-sealed bath, ripping out shoddy cupboards and rather a lot of digging in the garden. The last tenants were, shall we say, not the homely type - as soon as the DIY is finished, I'll be donning the rubber gloves and getting happy with the cleaning fluid as well.

We've been staying with my parents, which has been lovely (we get on wonderfully, anyone who knows me knows how close I am to my lovely Mum), but also means that we've hardly seen the Husband, as he spends all his time either at work or wielding a paintbrush. It's been massively frustrating not to be able to a) get onto the internet (my parents are techno-phobes, and live in an internet black-hole) and b) not be able to join in with the DIY and painting due to having two mini-Owls to look after. I've had a couple of hours digging in the garden, preparing the soil for planting (have I left it too late? I must consult my Alys Fowler gardening bible) and wondering why anyone would plant a fir tree in a metre square flower bed, but I'm practically chewing my own arm off with anticipation of actually being able to get the labour over and done with and the growing started. I'm also pretty desperate to get all our things in and sorted - I have a secret fear that it'll get to Christmas and we'll still be finding things that need fixing before we can move in....

The other thing keeping me busy is being Mama to two, rather than one. Any first-time Mums reading this - enjoy it, cherish every moment, revel in it, because you will never have the time to sit and stare at a newborn again. You'll be too busy jiggling a baby with one hand, and building a lego garage with the other....

PS - For any of you who edit images online and are mourning the death of Picnik - Picmonkey is like it's bigger, better looking brother. I'm addicted to the 'Dusk' effect. As you can see. Ahem.