A step into my past

Being a lover of vintage bits and bobs, I love anything old, when I say old I mean from the 1960s backwards, whatever people say I still cannot class 80s and 90s bits as vintage, even though it is, I just see it as mass produced tat I'm afraid. So as a lover of old things, I was rather excited to hear that my uncle had found some antique suitcases in our old family home oop in Coventry. As the house had to be sold, he had a lot of clearing out to do and he has come across so much family history. That house holds a lot of memories for many members and generations of my family so we were all sad  to see it go but also very excited to see what it unleashed!

Here are the suitcases my uncle gave my mum and I (he knew we liked pointless old rubbish and knew no one else would want them)

 This one is apparently from around the 50s or 60s, I should know this really but if I'm honest, I don't tend to look at luggage from those eras, more like what goes in the luggage! I really liked the unusual way of how it zipped up, I'm so used to seeing the zips going all the way round the case, not on the top! I loved the pastel blue colour of it too, I think this was probably used by my gran and her sisters. I got to keep this one and I'm a bit upset I can't use it! Apparently it's not sturdy enough for all my belongings... well whatever do they mean?!

 This one as you can see dated back a bit further than the 50s, apparently we weren't allowed to lock it because otherwise we couldn't get it back open again, there were some faint markings of a name but we couldn't make it out, I would have loved to know who it belonged to! I love the colouring of the inside, it looks like it was built to last, more than you can say for some of the cases I cart around today!

 

We think this little beauty might have been my great grandads, I think this was probably from around the 1930s maybe? It's more modern than the previous and in a lot better condition, I would quite happily take this on little trips away with me! Don't think mumma would let me though!

 Last but not least the oldest of the bunch, now I'm not sure if it was this one or one of the ones above but apparently one was taken by my Great, great grandmother to Australia which took six weeks to get there! You cannot imagine such a journey! I love this one because it looks like it could tell a few stories, it looks as though it should be a doctors case to carry the medicines around in! Once again in great condition for how old it is, I'm guessing 19th to early 20th century?!

Ohh the stories they could tell, if only they could talk! I am looking forward to seeing what else my uncle finds! He's already found us patterns from the 40s, jewellery, a dressing table set and my favourite, family photographs! Here is some of my family history...

 These are photographs of my grans side of the family, they have been gone over in pencil and paints which was all the rage at the time!

 My great uncle Chris on the left and my great grandmother on the right, apparently I have a strong resemblance of her but I can't see it myself!

These photographs are one we have had in our hallway for as long as I can remember, look it's me again!

There is still a lot I have to learn about my family, mumma's currently trying to piece our family tree together, it's going to be a biggun, considering we had family in Wales, Denmark, Australia, you name it my family has probably been there! I can't wait to hear some of the stories she unfolds so I can carry them on to my child in the future. 

This post is probably a bit more personal than my normal ones but I thought I would share a piece of my history with you all!
Until Next Time

Toodle Pip

xxx

Anita's Vintage Fashion Fairs

Recently I got a lovely email from Zara King, the fab PR and Marketing lady at Anita's Vintage Fashion Fair's saying that she had come across my little ole blog,loved it and invited me to the next fashion fair in London as an 'Official blogger' to help promote it and to generally have a jolly good spending spree, now how could I turn this down!?

I found this on Anita's website, oh I am so excited for this!

I'm very much looking forward to it as I haven't been to a vintage fair in so long and as I've just started back in my third year at university, my student loan has come in at what I would say is impeccable timing, although I must add that I am going to try to be good and not spend too much... I hope, well my fella will be with me so I'm sure he will keep me on a tight reign!

Anita's vintage Fashion Fairs have been running for quite some time now and have become a popular on London's vintage scene, sponsored by Lipcote, the fairs don't just showcase clothing but everything from home wear, jewellery, fabric, you name it, you will likely find it there, and not only attracting the general public but celebrities, designers and journalists from all over London. What I love is that they don't come across as your usual vintage fair which are just stacked up with 1980s 'vintage'(if you can call it that), no sir, antique finds date right back to the 1800's so there really will be something for every fashionista out there.

As it is currently fashion season, the fair is going on the theme of the 4 capitals of Style, which are of course New York, Milan, Paris and not forgetting London town, I've chosen to cover London in my up and coming post on it so I'll be looking out for lots of quaint nostalgic bits and also some of you glamour girls and guys making a strong fashion statement (we all know London folk do it best).

As well as posting on London Themes for the fair I am likely to post about anything that catches my eye, my finds and the general overall response on the fair, I do feel honoured for being asked to be one of Anita's official bloggers so I hope I will do everyone proud!

My official Bloggers tag!

So if you're around in London this Sunday 25th September come pay the fair and me a visit and you never know your face might turn up on my blog, the fair is at Battersea Arts Centre, Grand Hall, Lavender Hill, London, SW11 5TN. Times are 9:30 am - 4pm (get there early to find the best bargains!)

Until Next Time

Toodle Pip

xxx

For when I have my little vintage home

Similar to my last blog, I seem to have fallen in love with Antique drinking glasses! I like to think, however cliche it sounds that when I get my own home that I can create my own little vintage haven, I know a lot of people seem to do this but I don't necessarily want to do it in every room, maybe just one room with some vintage bits and bobs around the house, to be honest I think this is a good way to start because Antiques can be so expensive especially around the London area which is where I hope to live in a couple of years.

Luckily where  I'm living at the moment in Rochester I have two fabulous little antique shops that I love to go in when I get the chance and they are pretty reasonable with their prices.

I popped there on Saturday with my fella for a general nose around and we first spotted an antique fifties coffee set but unfortunately couldn't afford it, I was rather heart broken because it was a beautiful black and white atomic set, but we left it be and I'm so glad we did because we found some cute little antique glasses for bargain prices and I thought I would share them with you!

Set of 12 glasses that were still in the box! Antique fifties, oh I adore them very feminine and pretty!

Excuse my chipped nails!  My fella spotted these and I was quite surprised he did because they are more of a woman's glass I'd say, definitely suited for spirits or to put your fruit juice in to go with your breakfast!
The second set was a true bargain, I managed to get an antique jug and glasses, now I don't think these are authentic fifties, they are quite possibly seventies but I still love them never the less!

I love these and really cannot wait to use them I think the Jug will be perfect for cocktails! I would love to be able to display these in an antique cabinet, One day definitely.

Finally here is a set my lovely friend bought me a little house warming present for when I moved into my house last year, these are quite possibly my favourite

So beautiful don't you think? the thing is with all these glasses I've now got I'm too scared to use them in my current house because I wouldn't want to break any of these but then I think they are only being hidden away until I can use them, it's like having a dress in a wardrobe and not being able to wear it... hang on a minute that sounds familiar!
Hope you like these beauts!
Until next time

Toodle Pip

xxx

Location location location!

A few of the glorious buses and trams!

Today I had a fabulous shoot today at East Anglian Transport museum, I'd had it organised for ages, after my dad came up with the super idea of using the museum, why I'd never thought of it was beyond me, some things just skim right over my head!      The day didn't go off to the bestest start due to a migraine and me being very poorly but after an hours kip, I was raring to go! And I'm so glad I was because what a super day it was, I had organised the shoot with two photographers from London and I had my friend Dollface Darling modelling with me.
     While I was there I thought it would be perfect to do some location shots again, so this blog will be showing a few of the shots I took.

The train station with vintage signs and a ticket booth! The man even comes and stamps your ticket on the train for you!

  The photographers I worked with were superb, two of the best I've worked with to date by the looks of the results they were showing me on their camera! So keep your eyes peeled for my new images soon.
    As it is a vintage buses museum the type of shoot to do there of course is a vintage inspired one, a lovely volunteer at the museum was showing me some images from a John Lewis 60s and 70s shoot a photographer did a while back, the images looked really great and perfect in the surroundings. Because of the variety of buses and trams, you can really be quite wide and varied with what decade you want to settle on, anything from the 30s I'd say to the 70s, nothing further because modern clothes just wouldn't fit in.

A little vintage caravan, I would of loved to have shot in here but we couldn'd get in!

I imagined for the caravan, you would be able to do quite a nice cheesecake style shoot with two models having tea or making food for one another, it was so ideal and we would have got some great images but hey ho! We used what was available!

Of course all of the back of old buses looked like this but I think it would be perfect for a vintage image of a girl swingin off the pole and waving her friend goodbye with a beautifully flared skirt, or a girl chasing after the bus whilst its leaving, very cheesecake!

We used this as landgirl image, we were wearing jeans and headscarfs, to make it look like a working girl image, you could even do a male vintage style shoot with men in aprons putting the stock on the carriage!

Finally a little moment for friends and family, we had a dear friend who was a volunteer at the museum and was my dads best friend, he died of cancer recently and it was a great shock and loss, it was a lovely suprise to see they had named the park after him at the museum as a memorial, I spoke to a lot of the volunteers and they spoke very fondly of Paul.

Well a little reflection on the day, I couldn't of asked for a better day, lovely weather, lovely people and lovely images ... I hope!!
http://www.eatm.org.uk/ Heres the website to the museum if you decide you'd like to pay it a visit, I highly recommend!!