ADVENTURE WITH MY NEW VENTURE

Over time Ann and I have talked about branching out and having a booth in one of our local antique centre, then we have another coffee and decide yes we will - IN THE FUTURE - The opportunity has now presented itself.  Northampton has had an antique centre for many years but I have to say it has been a bit behind the times and not really been a place you would want to spend too much time in or your pennies in.  It is now under new leadership and has new dealers who are selling the kind of items that I want to buy, vintage and retro and everyone is very excited about the new venture and so we decided to see whether we could get on board and luckily Joe the guy that is now running it accepted us and so Vintage Wants will be having a new venue http://www.northamptonantiquescentre.com/Reclamation.html.    As from Sunday 27th June (after setting up) Vintage Wants can be found there.
On Thursday Ann and I went and took photos of the area we will be selling from and decided what the booth should look like, we were like a couple of schoolgirls, giggly with excitement, we had finally done it.  Sadly Ann has a very heavy workload - she is the one with the very responsible job - and after a lot of anguish has decided that at this time she cannot give it the time and effort it needs to make it a success and so I am going to do this  ALONE!!!  We are still going to do our joint venture of the shows and Ann will still sell in the on-line shop and on Etsy but the booth is all mine.

With that in mind I suddenly thought oh my goodness do I have enough stock for a booth on my own and so had a frantic rush around the car boot this morning.  Found some goodies that are going to make their way into the booth and also some for my Etsy shop.

Great old three tier trolley that I will keep, my old one will go for display in the booth - just need to get the paint on it.  Old Pedigree doll and 1950's childrens book.  Sewing basket,

Double string pearl necklace, floral china brooch, pretty art deco glass pot with enamel lid and a pretty little cup and saucer.

A set of handpainted Crinoline lady plates and the most wonderful butterfly wing Crinoline lady picture totally original and untouched.


Anyone who knows me knows I love flowers and Roses are no exception and I found these lovely bits of china that I know will look great in the booth.

Whilst I was doing my wandering I met my new neighbour in the next booth to me who was also on the hunt for stock - talk about its a small world out of all the 100's of people that were there I bumped into him - without even knowing who he was we got chatting at a stallholder that I knows stall and lo and behold - neighbours.

Anyway that is my new venture - my knees are shaking and I am very nervous but sure that things will be OK, if you are in Northampton why not pop in and take a peek. 

FIRST CAR BOOT SALE OF THE YEAR

Now I know that spring is coming – I went to my first car boot sales for this year. I actually got there late it was almost over – that will teach me not to take any notice of the time put on the notice boards. You would think by now I should know the ropes!!! But this was a new one to me.


Even though a lot of the sellers were beginning to pack up I still managed to find some great items that others had not seen.

Wonderful old Victorian china featuring some lovely cherubs and angels and an extremely pretty dressing table dish with roses on it.


My youngest daughter who had come with me and had passed the items by has decided they will look great on her stall at the Vintage and Home Made Fair and so no sooner had I shown them to her she had snaffled them off me with a plaintive cry of “They would look great on my stall, just what I need”. So what is a Mum to do but to hand them over.

Other finds included a wonderful old Chad Valley “Race to London” game which is complete and a Wills Cigarette card album which was full of the Roses and Wild Flower cards which I use all the time in my artwork and which I put with my jewellery. I always struggle with it, I  know it is a terrible thing but I have taken the cards out ready for my use and cannot wait to put them together in some way.
 
 

 

 

 

 

On my return home I noticed a jumble sale sign – again this was nearly over but I did manage to pick up this wonderful old Alfred Meakins Crinoline lady trio.

As the white rabbit said” I’m late, I’m late for a very important date..............” I really must be more organised next time.

 

 

 

 
 
 
 
 
 

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NORTHAMPTON EASTER VINTAGE & HOME MADE FAIR

After much cajoling from sellers and shall we, shan’t we Ann (Vintage At The Corner House) and I have decided that we will arrange another Vintage & Home Made Fair and we are looking to host one in around the end of March, more details will follow in due course so keep checking in.

Ann has been busy with the flyer sending me pictures to choose from and me sending them back with criticisms – damn being a Virgo. Mind you I see that she has also been busy out and about shopping, I am sure she will have lots of lovely goodies to sell come the fair.

I have not been too much of a slouch in that department either.  I have picked up some nice embroidered brooches which I love and a wonderful lucite crinoline lady.



A couple of new compacts and some tins.

Thats not all but just a small glimpse, a girl needs to keep some suprises.  To see more you will just have to come to the fair.

NOT WAVING BUT DROWNING

At the moment I feel like one of those plate spinners at the circus. We put the house on the market and it sold within weeks, which is great but it left us with nowhere to go. We have spent the last few weekends looking at other people’s homes with the hope that one of them might turn into ours. Finally many houses and viewings later we have found a wonderful old house that used to be the village bike shop which is full of the quirky little things that make a home to me, we put an offer on it and had it accepted and we are hopefully going to be moving.... Yippee. Only one thing our purchasers buyer is in rental and wants to be in before Christmas – well how many weeks is that away........... For goodness sake I have a three story house to pack up – and a three story house packed to the gunnels with little doo dads...... Anyone out there any good with the bubble wrap!!!


At the same time our youngest daughter is also spreading her wings and moving out into the big wide world with her boyfriend and she is moving on Friday. Dad will be helping with that one as I am at work. Like me she is a collector so at the moment her packed boxes are spilling out all over the place.  This is her first time away from home and we are busy ticking things off the to do list.

Ann and I are having a bike at the local bike bazaar this Saturday as a way of giving out flyers to potential visitors to our Vintage and Homemade Fair which is the following Saturday. I am busy pricing, creating and generally tearing my hair out. All this plus working too - OK only part time but working none the less.

Too say my life is hectic is an understatement

Today just to do something that wasn’t to do with moving or the house I went antiquing. Had a few hours to myself just wandering around a couple antique centres and came up with some items for the bike bazaar and some for the fair.  I love the cake decorations especially the little girl on the rocking horse.  My poor bride is without her groom and I actaully collect wedding dolls so can see her going into my collection, in fact can see three of them going into the collection - so much for downsizing....
 
 
 

My treasure of the day has to be the Carlton Ware Crinoline Lady condiment set she is so pretty. Poor old dear has been knocked clean in half on her waistline and glued together in a way that can only be described as very badly. Luckily my father-in-law is a restorer and he will be able to sort her out and make her look good again. Mind you even with the damage I love her and she will look great on my dresser once she is all better again.