Art, Icons and Inspiration

So.. finally another blog post from me. This time no promises about how "I will do better" etc because, as has been proven by my lack of posts, I apparently won't!

Anyway, this post is to show you my AMAZING new wall art that now takes pride of place in my living room.

A set of three iconic quotes by three iconic women: Audrey Hepburn, Marilyn Monroe and Mae West (you don't get much more iconic than that!) beautifully illustrated and presented in his own unique style by my super-talented little brother Jack!

I had searched high and low for the 'right' pieces of art for the big bare space in our living room and had failed miserably at finding anything. I love typography so had flirted with the idea of some typographic art but still nothing was quite right and often lovely things were out of my price range.

So instead of buying a mass-produced piece I decided to use the same principle I do with my furniture: get exactly what I wanted and have a completely bespoke piece.
I chose three of my favourite quotes by three of my favourite ladies and asked Jack to come up with something.
I left everything else in terms of style and design to him, I simply chose the quotes and Jack did the rest. He did each one in slightly different but complimentary tones and with a "distressed" style finish and I think they look amazing and suit the decor in our flat perfectly.

We printed them onto high quality art paper and I now have three completely unique prints gracing my walls and finishing my living room to perfection.

Jack is a final-year art student and available for commissions so you too could have an amazing piece of artwork that is just for you - take a look at his site, it's full of fantastic, unusual and amusing art. http://jackgillilandillustration.blogspot.com/

Anyway, enough of the waffle and pimping out the illustrator. Here are the images:

AUDREY:

MARILYN:

MAE:

And finally, them all in-situ on my living room wall - they do look a lot more impressive in real life.. :o)

Edinburgh vino and vintage

Wow I have been super bad at this blogging malarkey! So I am going to TRY to be better and blog more (but don't hold me to it, I may fail again!)

So as it's the time of the Edinburgh festival I thought I'd write about the lovely city itself.. We are lucky enough to have some fab friends who live there and so a couple of weeks ago we spent a night and a day perusing a little tiny smidge of what this amazing city has to offer.

Firstly we had a night in Leith... now the Leith of my imagination (Trainspotting) is a far cry from the reality of Leith today. Leith has been gentrified considerably over the last few decades and is now a really lovely place to spend an evening. There are lots of really nice pubs/bars/restaurants along the docks. We spent a New Year's a few years ago in a gorgeous steak restaurant just off the main docks area, but I have no recollection of its name (must have been a good night! ;).
This time we spent a rainy but fun and wine filled evening at a great pub called The Kings Wark http://www.list.co.uk/place/100485-the-kings-wark/ (their own website is currently down). It was a fantastic place, all dark wood and 'proper' pub-ness but with the added bonus of serving fabulous food. I can recommend the mussels and the steak, if you get a chance to go do check it out!

The following day we went shopping, well mostly window shopping, but it was a lovely sunny day and we made the most of it.
We visited a few fantastic vintage shops that I've never visited before around the Grassmarket area. First was Armstrongs a fabulous Aladdin's cave of vintage and kitsch that should be a must-go on any trip to Edinburgh!

I fell in love with an original 50's floral prom dress which was unfortunately too big, or it would have been mine! There is literally something for everyone here, from beautiful and affordable occasion wear for men and women to quirky dressing up clothes. Pretty much every era is covered and you could literally spend hours unearthing the treasures lurking everywhere!

                    A not very good picture of the said 50's dress, it was stunning IRL!

So if you're not already a seasoned local vintage shopper and you visit the city, Armstrongs is well worth a bit of your time! As is their sister store the Rusty Zip on Teviot Place, which is smaller and more 70's based although I did spot a beautiful red chiffon 50's ballgown in there which I'd have loved to own!

We also had a lurk around Godiva, at the foot of the Grassmarket, a stunning shop with a front room full of designer-made reclaimed vintage clothes and accessories. There were some stunning pieces here and well worth a look for that unusual item, I absolutely loved the elastic waist belts with vintage fabric detailing! The good news for us non-Edinburgh-ites is they have an online shop: http://www.godivaboutique.co.uk/home.html

 The back room at Godiva is chock full of pretty vintage treasures, more modern vintage than Armstrongs - 70's and 80's feature heavily - but well worth a rummage. I found the cutest little black 80's playsuit which sadly came up too short in the body for me (I didn't have a lucky shopping day!).

I'm sure there are loads of other lovely vintage shops to be found in the city, we sadly ran out of time, but the taster I had was a scrummy one. :)

Shalford and Everything After

So yesterday (June 18th) was our first official foray into fair organising! To say I was a bit nervous about how it would go is probably an understatement! Especially when the rain started just as the fair was about to start! Would the weather put people off and leave us with an empty fair?

Much to my relief the people did come, lots of them, despite the frankly schizophrenic weather! And... from the comments we had back, they all had a very lovely time and said how beautiful the stalls were and how fantastic the tearooms were (run by Jumbly Crumbly Kitchen - they even ran out of all the amazing cakes they had made which shows how popular they were)! Phew! :)

To be fair though, we had the most amazing selection of stallholders and I am so grateful to them all for making the day what it was! After all without them we'd just have had an empty room with some bunting down the sides!
I may have spent a little more than I should but the bits I bought from What Katie Did Next, The Green Gables, Tobyboo and Bobbins and Balms are all amazing products that will be treasured!
Oh and I *may* have convinced my husband we NEEDED a gorgeous hamper from Hampers for Campers...

All in all, the trekking for miles handing out thousands of leaflets, the making signs, the website, the hard work and everything we did to try and make the event a success, was worth it. I'd like to say a huge thank you to everyone who made it such a lovely day!

Anyway enough waffle here are some pics of the day, apologies to anyone we missed!!

Pip'n'Stuff and her gorgeous jewellery

Handmade and Vintage Trudi is so talented, amazing made from vintage items!

Rural Vintage Vintage crockery hire

 

Tilly's Magic Lantern handmade jewellery

Kitsch Me Vintage who offer vintage makeovers as well as gorgeous bits to buy

Liz from NYR Organic

The lovely Handmade by Emily

Stunning textile art from What Katie Did Next

Gorgeous textiles from Tobyboo 

Uber-yummy fudginess from Flossy Cockles

Gabrielle and her gorgeous creations The Green Gables

Some real vintage nostalgia from Knickerbocker Glory!

My mum the other part of Vintage Pixie

Me looking weird!

Hampers for Campers

The fantastic tearoom team run by Jumbly Crumbly Kitchen

Beautiful clothes from Trailer Trash Vintage

Stunning jewellery from Chasing Beads

Almost-good-enough-to-eat soaps and balms from Bobbins and Balms

We hope to do another fair nearer to Christmas time, I'll keep you all posted on when! Fingers crossed we can make it another lovely event but with all the added extra fun of sparkly Christmas themes! Woohoo! :)

Our Vintage/Handmade Fair

We are running our first Vintage and Handmade Fair this Saturday (18th June) in Shalford, a little village about a mile outside of Guildford.
We're really excited about the fair and so pleased by the number of amazing stallholders (you can see some of them here: http://www.vintagepixie.co.uk/fabulous-event/shalford-near-guildford-june-2011) who have wanted to take part.
There really is something for everyone, everything from handmade gifts and jewellery to vintage clothes for kids and adults, from beauty products to vintage makeovers. We'll even have a vintage VW Camper van selling fabulous retro hampers outside! (Weather permitting)


We've been working mega-hard to make it as good a day as possible for everyone involved and now we're just hoping that lots of people will come and make the day a success for all!
If you're at all near the area forget your local high street for the day and please do come along between 11 and 4 for the opportunity to shop with some unique sellers!


Here's a copy of the leaflet we've been distributing all over the place! :)

Our aim with the fair was to give everyone a 'little extra' from the norm:
So we have a dedicated section on the website for the stallholders - their details will remain up online after the event, so people who missed them on the day/saw them but have forgotten their details, can remind themselves and hopefully help to generate business and value for the stallholders after the fair itself has passed.
The stallholders also get free tea and coffee all day, we know how much tea is needed during a long day at a fair!!


For the customers: Entry is free, they will be getting a little goody bag with stallholders info and some retro sweeties (while stocks last!), they also get a voucher for money off their first order in the tearooms!
The tearooms will be serving cakes, cupcakes, cake pops and cake sandwiches, as well as some savoury sandwich choices for the less sweet-toothed! :)
The tearooms (run by Jumbly Crumbly Kitchen) will also be home to a foosball table, so those who don't want to browse can entertain themselves while their companions shop!
For the little ones the tearooms will be running a 'create a cupcake' workshop (although bigger kids also welcome :)


If you are in the area please do call in. Last minute Father's Day gifts will be available!! :o)

First post and a bit about us!

Hello and welcome to our little blog! I'm not sure how great I'll be at this blogging malarkey but here goes anyway!
So I'll start off with a bit about me - I'm Emily and one half of Vintage Pixie (the other half being my lovely Mum). I live in a small flat in Leatherhead with my husband, two kids and lots of lovely vintage and antique furniture. I dream of one day having the perfect character house for all my beautiful old finds but for now this is us and it's all good.
Here's a picture of our little family at our wedding in Sicily last year. It was a fantastic, relaxed and fun day, everything you want a wedding to be! :)

Vintage Pixie was born 4 years ago when I was made redundant from my marketing job in London. Since that time it has been many things - a hobby, a sideline while I worked on other things and now, my real and actual business. I absolutely adore my job, it's so multi-faceted! One day I'll be hunting out a fantastic dresser for a customer or just buying something old that needs some TLC, the next making some cute gifts or home accessories, making over someone's furniture to vintage-style loveliness or organising a vintage fair (our first being at Shalford, Guildford on June 18th see http://www.vintagepixie.co.uk/fabulous-event/shalford-near-guildford-june-2011 for more details)!!
Hopefully I will occasionally have something interesting to say/show you! But in the meantime, hello and welcome to the slightly dis-organised world of Vintage Pixie! :o)