The best carboot ever

I know I know, I'm always harping on about how much I love carboots but this one seriously was the best I think I've ever been to! I was up in Cheltenham for a friend's hen do and on the Sunday morning Mum and I got up super early and arrived at Cheltenham racecourse for 8am. It was a glorious sunny morning and we were ready for bargain hunting!

In total I bought 9 things costing me £11.70. Here's the run down.

Stripey dress - £1
Polka dot dress - £1.50
Black and multi-coloured thread scarf - 50p
Washbag - 20p (my favourite price)
Turquoise handbag - £1
Pink suede stilettos - £2
Tin forget me not tray - 50p
Rug - £2
70s style tea set - £3

The best buy had to be this tea set - the guy was willing to give me a whole box of other stuff including some red and white china that looked remarkably like willow patten but I really didn't have the space for it.

I love this tea set - I was terrified Tom would hate it but luckily he doesn't and it's now proudly sitting above our kitchen table.



What I really love about carboots is when you find something you actually immediately need. I make a point not to buy everything I like because I hate clutter and it's wasteful - but when you can actually find an item that you know at some point you will have to trek into town for, it's a great feeling.

On this occasion I needed some shoes to go with my dress for my friend's wedding next month. The previous night someone had suggested I get pink shoes and lo and behold I spotted these beauties for £2.



In perfect condition - probably only ever worn once. What's more they are really comfortable - now if I can just learn to walk in them....

Rocky loves them too obviously

I've not worn heels this big since I was about 18 and oh my! My legs have never looked so good! Mum and I were parading up and down her hallway getting how excited at how slim we looked. Must. Learn. To. Walk. In. Them.

Whilst at the carboot I tweeted what I was up to. One of my followers challenged me to find some dominoes, a collection of thimbles and a chicken basket. "Challenged accepted" - I exclaimed - and without even trying happened upon all three!

After such a fantastic morning we went over to visit Aunty Gwen (who gave me my 50s singer sewing machine) who showed me some of her amazing tea sets! She also gave me this cute little cup and saucer. I've got a couple of different cups and saucers now so might have to turn them into candles!

I particularly enjoyed the carboot challenge. Anyone want to suggest a new challenge for my next one?

A patchwork elephant

I haven't had much time to craft lately - but when I finally did I knew I had to work on something I really loved. I was given the book Sew It, Stuff It for a present a while back. I've already made a few toys out of it including these bunnies I made my friend's beautiful baby girl and this dinosaur I made for Tom.

When I saw this awesome patchwork elephant I knew this was the project for me!



In total I used 18 different fabrics! A great excuse to use up all of those fat quarters I've been hoarding away.



Starting to take shape....





The finished nelly!





I thought I'd take nelly on a little adventure outside. He seemed to like it.





I can't bear to part with this little cutie though - so he's staying put in my craft room!

CybHer 2012

This post comes from the ever so lovely Nik from Little House In Town who recently won my giveaway of a chance to attend the first ever blogging event for women - Cybher! 

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At 7:10am on Saturday 12th May, this small town girl hopped on to a train and headed off to the bright lights of London town. Why, I hear you cry, would anyone get out of bed at that time on a Saturday?! Your concern is understandable, as 7:10am is practically the middle of the night. But this particular Saturday was extra-ordinary, as it happened to be the date of the very first UK conference for female bloggers, Cybher.

Held in the heart of London, just a stone’s throw from the Embankment (you know, where the big ferris wheel is?) at the rather freaking swanky 8 Northumberland (complete with pink lighting throughout; oh yes), Cybher set about to bring together blogesses of all creed, colour and style for one action packed day of corporate schmoozing, social mingling and inspirational speaking.

I have to say, I was a little nervous at the prospect of being flung into the world of real-life bloggers; after all, us bloggers aren’t used to communicating with each other face-to-face, and I wasn’t sure how we would all get along without the shield of technological gadgetry to hide behind. Plus, I was acutely aware that several of my most favourite bloggers would be there, and was concerned I would be like a little fish in a very large pond (or worse still, a rabbit caught in headlights).

Handmade Business Cards!

I needn’t have worried at all, the day was amazing and from speaking to other bloggers, it quickly became evident that we all felt like the underdogs. There was business card swapping (I made my own!) and outfit admiring, cooing over cute babes-in-arms safely tucked in colourful slings and gorging on biscuits displayed in tall sweetie jars. An incredible, inspiring day, all made possible thanks to Fran’s generosity.

Here’s my low-down of Cybher 2012: 

The Talks

The talks were organised into sessions, each with four different speakers to choose from. Choosing was HARD. Despite studying the schedule the night before, and even calling upon Fran’s wisdom to help me choose, there were still a couple of sessions where I had to make a last-minute ‘eenie meenie miny mo’ style judgement call.

I was pretty pleased with my choices. Every single one of them was utterly engaging, and there was not a dull moment to be had. Woman of the Day has to go to El Jones (a.k.a A Thrifty Mrs) who utterly nailed her talk on being a Thrifty Blogger. She was terrified, bless her, but provided tons of really handy, common sense blogging tips and was just generally very sweet. I loved her before Cybher, but she is now officially my new favourite person.

We had a great time with Mario Cacciottolo of Someone Once Told Me, who had us all up and about taking mug shots of one another in his photography workshop − a great way to get chatting to other bloggers. Below is my portrait of the lovely Ellen from Hymt:   

Zoe Margolis (Girl with a One Track Mind) gave the opening speech, chatting ‘talk show style’ with conference organiser Sian about her experience of having her identity exposed by the media. Zoe’s blog, which is sadly no longer updated, was one of the first I ever followed, and I clearly remember the time in 2006 that she described. I feel very privileged to have heard her speak (plus she smiled at me in the loo queue – woohoo!).

I wish I could tell you about all the talks I saw - they were all so super-fab -but I would literally be here all day! Other speakers I saw include:

• Lori Smith of BitchBuzz and Rarely Wears Lipstick
• Ruby Kiddell of The Erotic Notebook
• Jo Gifford of Dexterous Diva 
• Cathy Presland, a business strategist who told us how to ‘get what we want’ (and it turns out we want a lot!).

The Freebies

Upon entering the conference building, we were gently herded into the registration room, where we were handed possibly THE most incredible conference bag I have ever seen. Not a standard crappy drawstring thing made out of paper-like fabric with conference logo haphazardly pasted all over it in lime-green, oh no. We’re talking a real leather, discreetly embossed, laptop-compatible satchel, available in a range of colours to suit all tastes. My oh my. I made a beeline for the blue one, to coordinate with my outfit (naturally).

Now, I’m going to be very honest here. I went looting. It was early, and not many people had arrived yet, so I decided to go round and gather as many sponsor freebies as I possibly could before they all ran out. I had a lovely chat with a lady from Freya about their current range of booby-holders, after which she somehow managed to coerce me in to having my chest measured (I think something went through my mind along the lines of ‘hey, if I do this I might get a free pair of pants or something’. I didn’t). Palmer’s, on the other hand, were clearly angling after the ‘people’s favourite sponsor’ award, giving away huge bags containing at least 10 different full-size products, including their famous stretch-mark creams, which went down a storm with the mummy-bloggers. (Since the conference, I’ve tried out their gradual tan lotion, which resulted in me smelling strongly of chocolate digestives for two days straight.) I also picked up Grey’s Anatomy series six from the nice lady with the wooden glasses on the Disney stand and got my obligatory conference pen from the World Vision team.

It was not until after lunch that I realised the error of my looting ways – I was dashing back and forth from talk to talk carrying three very heavy bags, trying to squeeze through crowds and generally getting under people’s feet. At the end of the day, as I wearily collected my coat, I realised that less-idiotic conference attendees had taken the simple, yet life-saving step of depositing their goodies in the cloakroom for the day...lesson learnt.

The Take Home Messages

Despite the wide variety of talks going on throughout the day, a few common themes did emerge. A big one was the ‘follow/no follow’ link discussion. This relates to how bloggers should link to companies who are featured in their posts. This was the first time I had ever heard of a no-follow link, so it was quite an eye-opener. If you want to learn more, you can do so here.

Photography was also a big topic, understandably, as it is a key feature of many blogs. I bought a dSLR at Christmas in a bid to take better blog photos, and I also use Photoshop occasionally to collage images or add text. I honestly believed that all the best bloggers needed fancy photography equipment. How very way off the mark was I? As I learnt, there are so many excellent, free tools out there to help you create an eye-catching blog. Here are the key ones mentioned at Cybher: 

• INK361
• Google Creative Kit
• Pixlr 
• Splashup
• PicFrame (Android and iPhone app)
• Polyvore (specifically for creating fashion collages)

On a more personal level, Cybher taught me that I’m not such a little fish after all. I’m a medium size fish, surrounded by a whole bunch of other medium size fish. We are all swimming in the same pond, we all have our insecurities (the amount of times I heard people describe their blogs as ‘oh, it’s just about being a mum’, or ‘it’s just about food’...less of the ‘justs’ people!) and we all need to take more pride in the things we have achieved.

Oh, and I also learnt not to be a greedy freebie hoarder...

If you’re feeling a bit gutted that you missed out, never fear! Tickets are already on sale for Cybher 2013, to be held on the 1st June. There’s even a special early-bird rate of £80, if you’re quick!

*All photos are from the official Cybher event collection, except where otherwise stated.

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Nik is about to give up the day-job, move to the seaside and embark on a freelance career as a writer, proofreader and whatever-else-comes-her-way-er. Her personal blog, Little House in Town, is a place for all things ethical, sustainable, handmade and seaside-y - so go say hello! :)

When car booting is a lovely surprise!

The whole point of car boots for me is to get a good bargain. If I'm having my own car boot then yes of course I want to make a bit of money but I also want people to go away with a bargain! For this reason I hardly ever go to the car boot at the Brighton Marina. Since it moved from the station to the marina it seems full of people who mark everything up and refuse to barter. I got bored of going along and finding out that a pretty jug was £10! It was just ridiculous. So for a long time I just stopped going and found other great car boots further out of town. 

On Sunday however I woke up and for some reason decided I wanted to go check it out. It turns out it was definitely the right choice!

First up I stumbled across these gorgeous peep toe shoes.

I am a massive fan of peep toe shoes as you might recall from this post. I asked the girl at the stand how much (expecting her to say a fiver) - "£2" she replied. I was gobsmacked. I took the shoes. 

Two stalls down and I spotted a large crocheted blanket. I'd been after one for a while (because I still can't crochet) and again was expecting at least a fiver. The woman said £4 and I got her down to £3. Bargain. 

The blanket is actually double this length - it looks like two of these large granny squares have been sewn together - probably for a single bedspread. Perfect for the winter snuggling months. 

Finally (and I'm saving the best until last) this urn. 

Well I thought it was an urn and as it was willow pattern I made a joke to Tom about getting it so that when I die he can put my ashes in it. I collect willow pattern as I showed you in this post.

However the "urn" was on a table that I assumed was an "antiques dealer" and would be ridiculously overpriced. After once round I decided to ask anyway and Tom and I played a game of "guess how much" (we usually play this at the checkout in the supermarket just to ease the pain of the total bill). I played ignorant and asked how much the "blue and white urn" was. The man said a fiver? I said "Would you take £4?" and he said "Sure". Yay! I thought to myself. "It's not an urn though love - it's a ginger pot." - said the seller. He then went to pick the item up and picked up the wrong one. "No that one!" I said. "Oh...I would have charged more for that one" he said. HA! But we had agreed a price and luckily he stuck with it. 

I was pretty over the moon with this find. Especially because it's an earlier willow pattern design as it doesn't have the doves (the doves were added to later versions of the print). Since getting the item home I've discovered the chap was quite right - it was a ginger jar. I'm going to still keep calling it the urn though. It amuses me. 

All in all a jolly good car boot expedition and I'll definitely be going back now! 

Brighton Artists Open Houses: The Dyke Road Arts Trail

Today was a glorious sunny day and so I thought I would check out a few Open Houses. Brighton does this every year in May and I love it! Firstly I love a good nose around people's houses but also the amount of talented artists in Brighton is honestly UNBELIEVABLE!

Ordinarily I check out the ones around Seven Dials, Brighton or Hove. Today however I thought I'd have a poke around my own backyard so set out to discover the Dyke Road Arts Trail.

I managed to get around 6 or 7 houses and thought I'd share a few of my favourites.

Just in the next road was One Must Dash which was just fantastic Lovely striking prints, cards and some fab jewellery too!

Source: One Must Dash

I adore this cat print by Iain Armstrong of The Cat House! Plus the house was high up on the hill with absolutely stunning views of the city.

Source: The Cat House

I love literature and was pleasantly surprised at View at 42 to stumble across a book called Starlings by Brighton based author Erinna Mettler. I got myself a signed copy of her book and she has planned readings throughout May. 

The book is also available from Amazon

At The Artful Fox there were some beautiful drawings by artist Georgia Flowers. Unfortunately her work doesn't seem to be available on her blog. I picked up this postcard of her work and her blog really doesn't reflect all the beautiful drawings displayed at the house. 

Source: Georgia Flowers

Also displaying her work at The Artful Fox was Alice Walton. I've seen her work at other open houses and her uncaged exhibition. 

Source: Alice Walton Ceramics

What caught my eye this time however were her stunning ceramic cards. Don't you think these would make super cute necklaces and brooches too?

Source: Alice Walton Ceramics

I'm already planning which houses I want to check out next weekend; I can't wait! If you live in or near Brighton I highly recommend having a look at the Artists Open House website and going to have a look at a few. You won't be disappointed!