Vintage and Retro #dicraftswap

The theme of last months #dicraftswap was vintage/retro, a theme I thought would be super easy - turns out it wasn't, as there were just too many possibilities. I was sending to Jenny from the blog Pretty Column, who it turns out is actually not far away from me up north. She listed as her vintage interests the campaign of knitting for soldiers during the wars as well as war posters and propaganda (which made me happy because I'm a bit of a fan too!). I decided to embellish a wooden photo frame with buttons for Jenny to put her own 'retro' memories in, although I did include a 'make do and mend' postcard from the Imperial War Museum.

...Which is what gave me the idea for my bought gift. I sent a copy of the 1943 make do and mend guide produced by the government to advise people how to patch things up and reuse scraps. As Jenny is a knitter too I thought some of it was particularly appropriate...

I put in a few extra treats as well. The post office man laughed at my doily-decorated envelope!

Jenny wrote a post about what she sent to her own recipient here. Her crocheted bunch of flowers are just fantastic!

My parcel arrived from Jess at Dear Wildflower. I had said I loved the 1920's era, and so Jess sent me this beautiful notebook that made me instantly think of The Great Gatsby...

...so when I opened up the rest of the beautifully packaged items I wasn't surprised too see Jess had included a little page cut out from the book itself! She had also included an array of vintage floral patterned and polka dot craft papers and some lovely card blanks and envelopes, as well as a little hedgehog cross stitch kit. I think I'll incorporate the Great Gatsby passage into a card design using some of the flowers from the craft paper sometime. 

 Thank you so much Jess, and thank you as always to Hannah at Dainty and Ivory for organising the swaps. The next theme is Christmas, but is a little more general to allow people to incorporate other ideas too. If you want to sign up get in touch with Hannah by the 15th of November - I promise it's great fun! 

Lucky Dip Club Review - Pet Parade

On Saturday, I received what I can only describe as the most awesome post ever to come through my letterbox. That's no exaggeration. The previous Tutti Frutti themed Lucky Dip Club box (which you can read about here) really impressed me, but this month's Pet Parade box was like it was made JUST FOR ME!

As usual, everything was beautifully packaged, and with a handwritten note from Leona, who is behind the Lucky Dip Club boxes. Having seen the huge piles of boxes she has to post out every month on Instagram, I really don't know how she has the time to do everything!

On opening up the little packages, the first thing I found was this, a wooden necklace featuring some super cute kittens in a basket. I thought it went perfectly with my red dress.

Some stationary in the form of postcards and kittycat gift tags.

A kit to make Budgie Bunting (see below for the finished product!), and what can only be described as the most outrageously bright kitsch socks I've ever owned. My boyfriend, who knows nothing, strongly proclaimed how much he hated them. I, on the other hand, absolutely love them <3

And in the final little wrapped parcel, I found this months personalised item. Leona asked those ordering boxes to let her know their favourite animal or pets name, so instead of something personalised with my own name this month I received this little wooden balloon brooch featuring my baby kitty- my favourite thing in the box! I did try to get Pancake to pose with it for a picture, but unfortunately he isn't very bright... Instead he picked up the brooch and decided to have a little nibble, naughty boy - so that's the best picture we could manage!

Thanks Lucky Dip Club and Leona for making my day! Next months box will be on the theme of 'Think Happy Ice-Cream Parlour' - I'm expecting summery prints and candy colours. You can order here, if you'd like - I really can't recommend highly enough :)

Sunday Favourites

I didn't get a chance to post my Sunday Favourites last week as I was on my holidays in Barcelona with a group of friends. So this weeks favourites, of course, feature a lot of sun!

My favourite Topshop boat dress / Fun on the beach / Cute red sundress I picked up before my holiday / Rocking my Lucky Dip Club Tutti Frutti patch on my denim shorts

After doing a bit of pre-holiday shopping for some summer dresses I had plenty of cute things to wear on the trip - I love both of the above dresses, even more after discovering they both have pockets! The others on the trip didn't get why this was awesome - I can't be the only one who loves a dress with pockets, right? Somewhere to put your sunglasses? 

Art gallery and fountains / Most terrifying cable car ride ever up to the castle / Gaudi's Sagrada Familia / Reading on the beach 

We did a huge amount of walking, climbing in the hills and visiting all the tourist attractions, but we did fit in a day at the beach (where I wore my awesome bikini from my last post and actually didn't feel that self-concious in it at all!)

Celebrating our anniversary

My boyfriend and I also celebrated our 6-year anniversary - the time has just flown by. We went out for a nice dinner and a stroll around the city, and he pretended not to be bored while I dragged him to some of the cities vintage shops - there is a whole street which reminded me a lot of the Northern Quarter we have here in Manchester. 

While the holiday was great, coming home was good too, as it meant we were back with little Pancake kitty. He'd been on his holidays too, in the countryside, but seemed very happy to see us - until he fell asleep from all the excitement, at least...

So there was my week! Do let me know your own Sunday favourites too :) 

Lucky Dip Club Box - Tutti Frutti

So today my first Lucky Dip Club box arrived! I didn't think it would come over the weekend so I was surprised to find it waiting for me on my way to work this afternoon. I took it with me to open at work, I was too excited to wait till I got back home. Here's what I found inside.. (If you haven't received yours yet and want it to be a surprise, look away now!)

It was lovely to find a little handwritten note inside from Leona, who puts together the boxes. I was very impressed with all the little personal touches included. The goodies included an 'A-OK' apple coaster and a bright cherry keyring, as well as a watermelon postcard...

 ...a vintage apple patch to add to a shirt, super cute post-it notes, an 'Enjoy Today' badge and my favourite - a personalised pineapple necklace! As I'm off on my holidays next week I'll be wearing this <3

This is my first Lucky Dip Club box and I was really impressed with it. I had previously subscribed to Crafty Creatives boxes, but when it stopped including lots of little things in favour of one large craft kit, plus increased in price, I couldn't really justify accumulating stuff I'd never use. This box satisfies my want of lots of little cute bits and pieces and is well thought out and a lovely surprise through the door - who doesn't like happy mail days?!

Described as 'personalised packages filled with surprises', and including vintage and handmade items, it costs £15 (but no extra postage charge, yay!), and you can get next month's box here from the 1st of July - The theme will be Pet Parade, sounds perfect for me!

Sunday Favourites

Things making me smile on this sunny Sunday...

The beginnings of our colourful gallery wall. My boyfriend and I are both adding to it - I seem to add a lot of bird prints, he adds a lot of colourful abstract prints. It's a bit of both of us :)

...And I'll soon be adding this bright vintage advertising sign to it. My parents found it for me. I'd love a whole collection of them, and especially a Cadbury's one, but they sell for so much money!

I've also been adding to my 'cute postcard' stash. I can't resist buying them every time I pass Paperchase.

...Even my boyfriend has got in the habit of feeding my postcard-obsession. Isn't he good?! 

                           

And of course little Pancake, and his sheer joy of chasing anything that moves, also makes me happy! Just look at that smile :)

Happy Sunday!

Recent additions to my home..

This beauty of a vintage typewriter has joined my home, ready to be made use of for PostCircle and other correspondence. It was a gift from my Nan, who hunted one down for me after reading my blog (and got a bit of a bargain!). Still in absolutely perfect condition, it came in a rather lovely original tartan print case... original 1950s receipt still inside.

..As has THIS little beauty! (And helping me achieve one of my 25 goals..) Hello Pancake! My instagram will now probably only feature cat pictures for ever after. Cat-themed craft ideas, anyone?! (I'm already planning on making him a bow tie..)

Pancake training to be an acrobat..

..and a very rare sleepy moment!

I also got this Storyland Cross Stitch book recently, from What Delilah Did, which is really pretty, and not at all like most other cross stitch books I've seen, being much more modern and with cute patterns you'd be proud to put on the wall. I can't wait to make a few designs, starting with the frog prince (very Valentine's) and the unicorn. The book was also a bargain from The Book People, and has a little kit in it too!

My family and friends have all been treating me with all sorts of crafty little things recently, so I really have no excuse not to get making (except the essays, and the dissertation, and the tea selling...), although a crazy kitten who is determined to eat everything means crafting stuff has had to be hidden away for fear of things vanishing. I'm hoping to do some Valentine's DIYs before the big day.. any good ideas I should know about? 

Vintage Tea Set

This is part of an exciting new acquisition - a beautiful vintage teaset, given to me by my nan. It's the first time I've had any nice cups and saucers that matched, all my others are odd mismatched ones (although all beautiful in their own way). They are lovely bright spring colours, and I'm looking forward to afternoon tea in my teacups and a slice of cake on my matching tea plates!