Pop-Up Sale in Pictures

I had a ball at The Homemaker Pop-Up Sale at Red Door Studios in East Ham earlier this month - it was my first venture into organising such an event and my time was divided between -

preparing scenery, sorting stock, moving furniture, pricing items that came in...

... Tweeting, labelling and tagging clothes and collectibles ...

... moving more furniture, preparing posters, dressing the sales rooms, late night stock taking ...

... more furniture moving, more Tweets, coping with nerves ...

... manning the til, taking money, wrapping purchases, eating cake, dancing and merrymaking with the wonderful customers who found us over the two days were trading!

It was a baptism of fire and I thoroughly enjoyed the process from pre-planning to sweeping up the last stray button. Thank you all the East Ham locals who attended and a big thank you to those who came from further afield to help put Red Door and East Ham firmly on the 'places to go in East London' map.

Our Homemaker event was boosted by the collaboration of Candy Pout the fantastic Vintage Styling Make-over team who set up shop in the hairdressers adjacent to the Studios. They provided a steady stream of retro duckling to swan transformations as ladies returned to the sale with fabulous up-dos and vintage make-up.

 

Adam Pasty Guy cooked up a mouthwatering array of cakes and pastries, complete with Red Door cupcake cases.

We had guest singers The Hudson Belles who introduced our Sunday Salon Bookchat hosted by Matthew Crampton author of The Trebor Story. He was in conversation with two of the original 'sugar girls' who worked in the local Tate & Lyle factory in the 50's and 60's.

All in all it was such a great weekend that we have decided to open the Homemake Sale for a one off spree of pre-Xmas shopping on the 3rd and 4th of November! Anything that didn't go in the original sale will be there to buy and we will re-stock too from local sources.

If you fancy a trip to the East Edge, we'll see you there! 

Red Door Studios, Masterman Road, East Ham E6 3RW

Photography were indicated was by the wonderful Mr Phil Russell, you can contact him here.

A Little Kitschmas Crafting

Earlier this month I had a go at turning these ...

into this ... 

I was inspired by Betty Crafter's Wreaths on her fabulous blog, all her Xmas makes and finds are retro to die for, do take a look. 

I started with a polystyrene wreath form and wrapped it in tinsel. Then it was just a case of hot glue gunning everything into place - with a designer's eye (ahem). 

I did wire the deer and her fawn to stop them straying. 

I'm pleased to say all the baubles were bought from Charity Shops - if you get there early enough in December you'll find the cream of the vintage crop for next to nothing. The deer came from a vintage fair - a good price too as these are getting quite pricey on the likes of eBay and Etsy.

Then ... as tis the Season ... I had a wonderful day of edible crafting over at Gail's of One Million Gold Stars. 

Gail had pre-prepared the cookie dough, you can find her reproduction of the recipe and instructions on Domestic Sluttery. All I had to do was cut and decorate and with Gail's guidance I had a go at floating the icing so the biscuits are covered uniformly. We then ate went to town with sprinkles and baubles.

Yum!

Happy Holidays Everybody

New Year Post!

Happy New Year!

Start as you mean to go on I say, so - more knitting, sewing, sticking, baking. Actions speak louder than mumbled resolutions too so the first thing I did this morning was to bake some delicious breakfast muffins which filled the house with the aroma of cinnamon and nutmeg. 

These are Nigella’s Christmas muffins and I had wanted to bake them for Christmas morning but that never happened..

Next I headed out to my making space - the large tin box in the garden - and gave it a good sweep out to the strains of Cab Calloway. And a second breakfast muffin (they are moreish).

I’m using up some wool from the stash to make a small wrist bag from a vintage pattern. I’m a slow knitter and this will probably be ready by next Christmas, but the act of knitting I find very useful as ‘mulling time’ where ideas drift about in one part of my brain whilst another part worries over sl1 p2 k2 yadda yadda..

I’ve also been inspired by so many other people’s making blogs in the past year and I’m always desperate to try new projects. Victorian style greetings card boxes are my current obsession and I’ll blog the whole process once I’ve completed a box that ‘works’ - I’m finding it quite tricky to get the pattern shape right, it’s trial and error … and I have the patience of a gnat.

So here’s to plenty more Making It Up in 2011 and I hope to get to some more practical workshops this year. I’ll also be posting the occasional series of ‘Look What I Found On eBay / Etsy / Car Boot’, starting with…

Vintage Bakelite 3D View-master (model E)

I had one of these as a girl - a grey plastic version and only a handful of ‘picture wheels’. I can remember the day when I finally got how to view the pictures in 3D and it was amazing! Apollo rockets hung in star scattered blackness, Mickey Mouse loomed over a child in Disneyland, the Parthenon’s pillars stood out bold against an impossibly blue sky.

The best wheel I got with this vintage model is Flowers of Hawaii - I still find the spooky stillness of the images awesome. If you’ve never held a View-master, go out and try one now - beats Avatar hands down (ahem..).

Elvis Chutney

This is the batch of spiced apple chutney I made before Christmas, a Nigella recipe (How To Be A Domestic Goddess). It's really smooth and lovely but with quite a kick - not unlike Elvis.

What better way to enjoy listening to the old hip shaker himself than on a bright red portable record player - and here's the one Santa brought my daughter!

Decking The Halls

Cloves and an orange are the ingredients for this Oldskool Christmas make. Mask the orange with tape so you know where the ribbon will lie then stud the orange with cloves - use a skewer and a thimble or you'll have sore finger tips.

The pomander really needs to dry out in a paper bag for a few weeks with the help of orris root or it may go mouldy - but this one will only be hanging by the tree for a few days over Christmas so I missed that step out.
It gives off the most wonderful Christmas scent ...

I rustled up a batch of mince pies for the army of tree decorators...

And finally - I bought a couple of new decs this year. Kitty Cat is from Paperchase but the reindeer prancing with baubles is from a pound shop up the High Street - result!