I just had to blog these super sweet cup cake / party favour boxes which come as downloadable printables from Claudine Hellmuth – she sells them over on her Etsy shop. Reminiscent of old dolls houses with a good dash of 1950s retro chic, I simply love them. What a sweet idea! They even have a removable cupcake tray!
You get five oven colours in the kit (no need for fancy software either!) as well as little flags and cute oven-mitt gift tags to embellish your boxes with. Totally perfect gift idea!
I have been baking a fair bit recently particularly lovely healthy little cakes, muffins and biscuits that I can feed to Elsie – no sugar and lots of good wholewheat and fruit inside. But when I do bake, I get out my old apron and the other day I thought I might fancy getting a new one. Here’s my pick of the best ones out there!
First stop is Ulster Weavers – a great online shop for really reasonably-priced home-ware (mugs, aprons, tea towels etc) This Doris Apron is only £16! I also love the Teatime apron below.
Luscious, luscious Anthropologie sells so many pretty things. These gorgeous aprons are just too pretty to only wear in the kitchen. They cost £28 each.
And there are more aprons than you can shake a stick at over on Etsy but I like this Curvy Chole vintage apron by Dianne Designer Aprons ($29.95)
Ok, well this isn’t an apron but I thought it was great! These quirky oven mitts are something, aren’t they!They cost £25 from Hunkydory Home.
And lastly, here’s some dapper napkins to finish off the look! These come from Stitch Design Works – £14.95 for four. Happy baking and cake eating!
I’m a bit obsessed with tins so imagine my glee when I spotted these Andy Warhol Banana Candies in this cute tin – you can get yours from The Lollipop Shoppe for £9.
Go on, treat yourself to this cool box of arty chocs – how fabulous! A nice addition to the coffee table, as well as your stomach! Found here at the supremely cool Lollipop Shoppe.
To whet the old whistle and get you in the mood for autumn (or fall, whichever you prefer) I have been scouting the web, like a pig snuffling for truffles and have come across so great pre-wintery inspiration to get your cockles warmed and to rinse out the last few drops of summer…
First up, I have found some delicious autumn cocktails to get you in the spirit of things – and with names such as Roasted Pear Belini and Hot Spiked Cider, I shall certainly be serving my guests such tipples. And to accompany them, I rather fancy some of these tasty looking biscuits…yum
In my efforts to find the dusty gems ripe for polishing for your delictation, I have found a couple of new blogs – Please Sir (from whence the biscuits came) is one of those you come across that makes you smile and gets the mind buzzing with inspiration – I would definitely check it out. Similarly, Pret a Voyager is a great little blog and has some interesting links too, in fact I have spotted a shop I am going to go to when I visit Berlin next week thanks to this happy little blog – and I too am going to purchase the super cute diamond ring stamp (only €5)
Now anyone who is anyone can’t have failed to have noticed this rather dashing poster which can be found on Village and purchased for 60 of your American dollars. A bit steep but I tell you, it’s a design classic and shall look fabulous on my newly painted living room chimney breast.
Now Autumn wouldn’t be welcomed in without a good pair of tights and there is actually a dedicated group on Flickr called the tights, socks & leggings group. Bless them. I found this lovely image on there which is actually showing off the Monkey things but I just love her shoes and tights combo, very stylish for Autumn.
And just to satisfy my shoe craving, I just had to add a pair of Tracey Neul shoes – with a touch of the peep toe so you can feel like you are dancing on the edge of summer (or wear with yellow tights and look super funky) Now there, don’t you feel better about our approaching season shift now?
Did you know…
That there are so many web pages on the internet that even if you had hundreds of people scanning the internet 24 hours a day for the rest of their lives, you would never read them all, you wouldn’t even read a squillionth of them? That is why today has been good. The search engines were creaking and rattling in my favour, lady luck was smiling and I managed to find some super little sites that I may not have otherwise ever have seen.
As usual, this is a resource, so please go ahead and see for yourself how fab these little online stores are – and of course, if you do buy something, let me know how it goes!
Touchy-feely fabrics
I’ve said it before but I’ll say it again: all the best fabric sites are in the US! Ok so it’s massively bigger than the UK but c’mon people! Honestly, I see a site, bookmark it, then quickly check the contact details, and hey ho, it’s never in the UK. This is my call to arms! We need more fabric sites in Blighty!
Back to the good stuff:
I have located two new textile resources – and yes, they are in the US – but they are wonderful! Shipping costs aren’t too bad either (thank God for the weak dollar!)
Make me
This little site specialises in both modern and vintage textiles from the 50s, 60s and 70s. With Jetson-inspired fabrics, there is no mistaking their quality and authenticity. I am itching to get my hands on some the gorgeous salmon gingham below and I just adore this cute kids fabric
or the uber cool ‘cross town’ design (below) – I can just see myself swinging a cute shoulder bag around town in this fabric. They also offer vintage lace trims too…
Melina Made
Melina’s vintage reproduction fabrics, bags, wallpaper and accessories are great. She also does a modern range but it’s her vintage designs that catch my eye.
The best thing is she sells swatches with all 17 fabrics in for only $18 so if like me you use them for small projects it’s a steal!
Other sewing bits
I have also come across Glitter and Grunge which hosts profiles for a number of unique little artists, most of which have their own websites or etsy page. I particularly like Vallen Queen’s vintage-inspired tea cosies (above)
and Tammy Gillet’s designs such as this beautiful vintage-inspired paper creation while Karen Vogel’s unusual vintage pendants are truly exquisite.
Likewise, Silly Boodilly’s designs are a unique combination of folk art and victoriana – a new favourite of mine!!
And finally….some vintage eye candy…
Janet Lauer is a mosaic artist and creates under the name of Grindstone Mountain – her work is amazing. Do have a look at her website if you want to see more these wonderful items.
Sleepy Hollow Crafts just makes me happy. I love this little vintage doll.
And lastly, we have feasted our eyes, so now, let’s see what our tummies say to the rather splendid offerings of a little Somerset farm shop called Godminster who sell a range of ‘vintage’ goodies for foodies. They are so fab, they have won an award…
Now, wouldn’t you like these to clutter up your pantry?
Vintage Verity 
