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I had a lovely day at the Out of the Blue Arts Market on Saturday. Again I forgot to take a proper photo of my stall (hot dang!) but I thought it looked a festive treat with a new/old/gnarly/lichen covered branch, jingle bells, robins and the long-awaited THE NIGHT OWL paper banner. Can you imagine it yet?!?!
Well I'll be back down in Leith tomorrow night for a wee pop-up shop appearing at the lovely Word of Mouth Cafe.
I'm really looking forward swallying some (more) mulled wine and nibbling upon a few (more) Christmassy baked treats with Wooden Tree, Curly Custard and Victoria Berg and hopefully you guys too?!
So as it's my last show on-the-road in 2010, I'll be a running THE NIGHT OWL cafe-culture special offer for one-night-only of my gingham picnic tablecloths for just £20!
Come to think of it I'll be down Leith tonight too as the afore mentioned lovely Victoria will be appearing in her nightie around the Sweedish bars for St. Lucia Night! Not on her own I might add!! Read up on the wiki-link there if you're not familiar with this beautiful Sweedish tradition which I've very happily adopted as my own. For me, tonight's the night that Christmas really begins - I've just been practicing til' now. The tour starts in Sofi's at 8pm and then goes to Boda, Victoria and finishes up at Joseph Pearce about 9pm. This time I'll be taking my camera...
I did have fun down the Barras at Supermercado the other week. The bonnie brown and beige striped barrow I borrowed lived up to all my expectations. There's copious storage under the old gal y'know!
It was my first market of the festive season and I took the chance to get out the lovely vintage-style tablecloth I'd snaffled in the Scotstoun Emporium months ago. I lined my old suitcase with the tablecloth and plucked some wind-fallen branches from the cemetery to hang my brand-new decorations upon. I was glad I had the brain-wave to tie my bell-bows from last years at-home decor onto the branch tips which fairly added some pazzaz - if do say so myself!
They're so simple to do - just thread a ribbon under the wee loop on the back of your standard jingle bell (cutting the ribbon at a jaunty angle helps) and tie a bow either on itself or around whatever needs jingling and you're done - possibly the quickest project ever! My wee battery powered berry lights were reluctant to perform on such a bitterly cold day, but I cajoled them eventually.
Raring to but experiencing some chilly-weather technical difficulties nonetheless were Julias' Daughters (or Emily and me) as cold weather and metal strings don't mix with frozen fingers and my stinking cold made the high notes a little well, higher. But we had fun and even received a compliment on our cover of Teenager In Love - out first review woohoo!
If you're shopping in Glasgow over the next couple of weekends be sure to go along for some Christmas cheer(s): mulled cider and HOT GIN COCKTAILS await! And I can't wait to get my gin-soaked paws on the recipe, soon to be appearing on The Made In the Shade blog. Maybe it will be divulged in time for their On-line Chirstmas party?
(Thanks to the Shade and their lovely lady photographer for the borrowed photos below!)
P.S. Photographer identified as Gillian from Dapple Photography - thanks Kirtsy!
All be it within monetary and luggage-allowance restrictions, I think it's reasonable to say that Japan brought out the raging-blood-thirsty-foaming-at-the-mouth-consumerist in me. Oh dear, sounds nasty huh? And for the unfortunate by-standers: believe me, it was.
Most of this rampage was conducted in a couple of Ұ100 shops (not to be compared with Poundstreatcher's) and the fabulous five-storey fabric shop Tomato but I found many opportunities in which to open my purse and shell-out the yen and some other occasions in which, I regret to inform my dithering indecision had me walk away from a most opportune moment. Shame on me!
So I thought it only appropriate to show off the spoils of my shopping-spree now that the gifts have (mostly) been given...
1. Tapes, tapes and more tapes mostly collected in Ұ100 shops and some from a brilliant wee stationery shop somewhere near the Carrot Tower. The sweetie bags up the back by Aiueo came from Tokyu Hands. In case you can't tell from where you're sitting, it's a cartoon lady face with purple / yellow hair and when you fill the bag and tie the top you give her a wee pig tail - eeek!
2. I got some very special stickers for adding to my 'part-made-in-Japan' items soon to be coming to the shop, with 'hand made' written in both hiragana (?) and English. A commendable example of one purchase justifying another! The lovely floral fabric is soon to be a shower cap. And the pink squared speech bubble tags - oohlala need I say more?!
3. Kitty watering can: I found this on the way to the temple of kitty you can get a slightly larger one here too! The plastico maple leaves were decorating shops everywhere, I suppose the way plastic cherry blossoms do in spring. They were Ұ100 of course. Also spottable: a ceramic Miffy salt cellar (not a knock-off I'll have you know!), a second-hand Miffy book (temple yard-sale) for practising my Japanesees, and lovely cherry and mushroom patterned fabrics (Tomato) and a plastic potato. Don't ask.
4. The only snag about Tomato for me, was that apart from the pre-cut pieces on the quilting floor, like this stack of fat-quarters, all fabrics were cut at a minimum of 1 metre. Dang. But compared to FQ prices in Scotland (or say in John Lewis) they were mighty reasonable at between Ұ130/270 or £1/£2 and of course Japanese! The green Mitsubishi pencil in the foreground I admired for it's slogan: 'Made by elaborate process'.
5. I got a lovely selection of stationery items like these cute froggy envelopes (when you fold the top down his eyes pop out!) an exercise book with a dormouse on some spotty red envelopes and more spotty fabric.
6. The deliciously dainty little chocolate box hanky came from RAAK a beautiful knicker-twistingly exciting shop that I stumbled upon in Kyoto. Very Japanese orange and red fabric with a lovely square pattern woven in, was yet again from Tomato and purchased in three colour ways! Can't wait to get working with it.
