take one bracelet...

I'm going to let you into a secret. I hate bracelets. Maybe it's the combination of having wrists like a malnourished toddler and always being cold that put me off. Don't get me wrong, I like the look of them, but they always seem to jangle around my poor excuses for forearms and give me the shivers. 

My sister bought me a bunch of jewellery for my birthday a few years ago and I have to confess I never wore the bracelet - the very size of it made me shudder. But my mother taught me to be grateful - I mean, you can't throw out a gift, right? So, after years of it languishing (can a piece of costume jewellery languish? I'd like to think it can....hmmm....anyway, I digress... ) at the bottom of my jewellery drawer, I decided to give it a makeover.

All you need to makeover your bracelet is: scissors, glue, ribbon a brass charm and a clothes peg.

1) Glue the ribbon to the inside of the bracelet and wind it round the bracelet. (careful that you don't wind it too much else the bracelet won't fit around your wrist. Yes, I really am that dumb.)

2)  Fix the end with a little glue and secure with a clothes peg whilst you wait for glue to dry. 

3) Bend the charm to fit the contours of the bracelet. I got my charm from here. Glue it down. I secured mine whilst the glue was drying with, you guessed it, a clothes peg!

4) Wear with pride.

So simple, I made a little one too!

Have a go and revamp some your jewellery too!

Love

Michelle x 

Jam and Jerusalem

Do you ever get into creative ruts? I do. You may have noticed, but things went a bit quiet here for a while. It was as if I had lost my blogging mojo. Nothing major had happened. It was just that not much was happening in my brain that was worth committing to a keyboard. I needed some inspiration and I needed it quick. Thankfully, it came in the form of my local WI. The WI, or Women's Institute for those who don't know is a British, community-based organisation for women. Their known for making jam and singing Jerusalem (hence the title of this post), but there's way more to them than that.

Even though the WI has always interested me I only found out recently that we had a local branch, so me and a couple of my friends went along to our first meeting not really knowing what to expect. We needn't have worried. Everyone we met was absolutely lovely. Me, Beth and Lou were introduced to card making by the lovely Jenny and after a slow start involving lots of ho humming, all three of us got stuck in. Here's what we made (apologies for the bad lighting - we took them on the Town Hall stairs straight afterwards)

Louise made this - I would totally buy it!

Mine and Beth's cards

Not bad for first attempts, eh? In fact, Louise's was so good, I think she should seriously consider taking it up as a hobby!

I hadn't gone along with the intention of getting ideas, but I was so inspired when I got back that I made a whole load of things for my shop. There are going to be lots of changes at edenfound in the next few weeks, so my inspiration came at the right time.

If you're thinking of joining your local WI, I suggest that you go for it. They're not at all stuffy or old fashioned - in fact as I write this, the Huddersfield contingent are on their way to a knife throwing workshop! Check out the WI website to find your local group. And if you're a Huddersfield local, click here.

Thanks Beth, Lou, Jenny and co  - I had a great evening and I've totally got my groove back!!!!

See you next time!!

Michelle x 

back to work beauties

Hi folks

It's been a while since I've posted anything. For a while it seemed like every blogger in Britain was talking about the Jubilee, which was great, but anything I would have had to say on the matter did seem rather superfluous to requirements. That said - I do send my heartfelt congratulations to you, Ma'am. I feel very proud to be British.

Anyhoo, for those of you who took advantage of the extra Bank Holiday (courtesy of Her Majesty) and had a whole week off, here are some Back to Work Beauties for you to look at - 10 wonderful things you can find on Etsy right now. I've gone girly this week and the theme is pink - no crowns or bunting in sight. Enjoy...

 
(Credits: Top 1, 2, 3, Middle 1, 2, 3, 4, Bottom 1, 2, 3)

Hope you liked this week's choices! Now, back to work!!

Bye for now


Michelle x

vintage shoppping

Well, everyone else seems to be doing it, so why not me? There seems to be an explosion of blog posts at the moment of people showing off their latest charity shop finds. I don't know if it's a coincidence, or if all this good weather we've been having in Britain is slowly turning us into a nation of shopaholics. Global recession, Eurozone crisis, pah!

Anyhoo, not wanting to be outdone, I've done a bit of bargain hunting myself. My eldest daughter goes for ballet lessons (I know, I'm living the middle class dream - deal with it) in a little village near our home and visiting the 2 charity shops in the village has become part of my Saturday morning routine. Most weeks I come away empty handed, but this week was different. Check it out! Eeeek!!

The jug I thought was beautiful and was actually something we needed. The other stuff I bought because they  were cheap and I liked them. The pink tea set I've seen selling on Ebay for way more than I was prepared to pay, so when I saw this set of 4 trios (cup + sauce + side plate - cos I speak the lingo, you know) going for a song, I had to snap them up. The Queen Elizabeth Coronation trio I'm pretty sure is not vintage, but since I've bought nothing jubilee related at all I thought it best to enter into the spirit of things. And talking of things monarchy related, I thought I'd snap this cute teapot up as well - complete with it's original label! Result!!

I know I've blogged about this kind of stuff before, but, as Jem on Beautiful Clutter says, if you're not into vintage teacups, then you're probably reading the wrong blog. I am kinda addicted to buying this stuff. In fact, when I paid for my items, the lovely man in the charity shop asked me if I was having a tea party. I didn't have the heart to tell him no, so I lied and said yes. Oh dear, surely the next step for me is hiding my stash around the house and denying their existence..... might have to get my fix somewhere else......

Happy shopping, peeps!

Michelle x 

ps. My name's Michelle and I can't stop shopping.......

blogs I love

Aaaah, the joys of blogging.... the relaxtion.... the calm........

.....ha ha don't make me laugh! Actually, my blogging experience is nothing like this at all. First of all, I very rarely get a post written in one sitting. My typing is usually punctuated by a little girl asking for Peppa Pig and chocolate, an even littler girl trying to sit on my lap and both girls trying to touch the keyboard when I'm not looking. The joys of motherhood, eh?! For every fight I break up there's a cuddle and a kiss for mummy and that makes it all worth it. Just recently I was reminded that all too soon they'll grow up and move out and I will miss being referee and chief nose wiper. Plus, as I often tell my eldest, no one likes a whinger, so i should just sit back and enjoy it.

I'm quite new to this blogging lark - I've only been blogging and twittering since March this year. Since I've started though I've discovered a load of blogs that I really love, so here are just 3 of my favourites:

abeautifulmess.typepad.com - the mother of all blogs. In fact, this blog was the inspiration for me to start blogging in the first place. If you like vintage fashion, food and travel, this blog is for you. Elsie and her sister, Emma, have kept this blog active for years, so the archive posts are worth reading too.

athriftymrs.com - another mother of a blog. If you like to save money (and let's face it, who doesn't?), then this is the blog for you. Watch out for her 'Saturday Savings' posts if you like to spend on ye olde interweb. Mrs Thrifty will also have you in stitches.

beautifulclutter.blogspot.com - vintage teacup heaven. If you share my love for vintage stuff, then you'll love this too. I especially love the photos of all her vintagey bits and bobs.

That's it for now. What do you think of my list? Can you recommend any great blogs? Leave me a comment and let me know.


Speak to you soon!


Michelle x


ps. This post was sponsored by a Drifter. Hmmm, tasty chocolatey 1990s goodness.....

unfinished business

Am I the only person who starts jobs but never finishes them? I thought not. I've got a fairly long list of new crafts I'd like to try. It's a fairly substantial list and it gets longer every day. The thing is, I promised myself I wouldn't start a new craft until I finished the one I was working on, and at the moment, I'm working on this:

(guess which one's mine)

It's a cross stitch pattern by Emily Peacock and I've been working on it for (wait for it) 3 years!! Although it's supposed to be made into a cushion, the plan is to have it on my wall - far away from chocolately fingers! I absolutely love the print and I'm sure seeing it on my wall will give me a tremendous sense of achievement, but right now, I just want to move onto the next thing.

Do you ever get like that? Do you start projects only to get bored halfway through, or are you a good 'finisher'? My wishlist of things I'd like to try next ranges from the specific to the vague and it looks a little like this...

1. Learn to crochet

2. Make some crochet bunting

3. Make a crochet blanket

4. Start my 'Coffee' cross stitch

5. Make more things out of my ridiculously large pile of vintage scarves (seriously, they're no good to me in a box)

6. frame more pictures of vintage ladybird book illustrations.

7. Make more things with bows

Hmm... I can't wait to get started on that little lot! Which one should I try first? What projects are you waiting to finish off? Let's make May finishing off month!

.......or maybe June.....

.....no, let's make it July....

..oh dear..

Gotta go - I've got more procrastinating to do!

Michelle x

Haworth

You've heard of Haworth, right? It's a little village in Yorkshire that's famous for being the home of the Bronte sisters. It's also home to the most wonderful festival of vintage. Every year this delightful village hosts a 1940s Vintage Weekend where the residents and shopkeepers dress up to celebrate the best of Britain.

I wasn't able to attend the festival on the Saturday and Sunday, so me, Mr C and the girls popped down on the Friday and made a day of it. The weather was freezing cold - who'd have thought we'd still need our winter coats in May! - but it didn't matter because there was lots of fun to be had...

Our first stop was the vintage fair, and as you can see from the pictures below, it truly was a thing of beauty. When I walked around I began to regret bringing Mr C with me as I knew I wouldn't be able to justify buying the Elizabeth II plate (among other things...) Sigh.....

From there we went for a walk around the town. All I can say is, I've never seen so much bunting...

While the rest of the troops were taking a well deserved coffee break I stumbled upon what has to be one of the most beautiful shops in the world - Rose & Co Apothecary. I'll use 3 words to describe it. Total - Vintage - Heaven. Enough said really.

If you're thinking of taking a trip to Haworth, I highly recommend you pay a visit here and to Oh la la Vintage...

I've been living in Yorkshire for 15 years now and I'm ashamed to say this was my first visit to Haworth. It definitely won't be my last. Thanks Haworth!!

If you want to know more about the 1940s Weekend, click here.

If you want to know more of the wonderful stalls I saw at the fair, click on the links below:
-  Vintage and retro styled 40s/50s clothing shoes and accessories www.missbamboo.co.uk
- Vintage hair and make-up artist who can recreate glamorous looks for weddings and parties www.bethanyjanedavies.com
-  Vintage reproduction clothing from golden era (and trousers to DIE for!) www.20thcenturyfoxy.com
-  More vintage clothing www.purplerabbitvintage.co.uk

Hope you feel inspired to get your retro on after that little lot!

I did!

Bye for now


Michelle x