Happy New Year!

Best wishes to you all for 2011! What plans do you have to celebrate tonight? We're going to a small party at my friends' house out in the sticks, and I'm taking cupcakes.One of my resolutions is to blog more - so keep your eyes peeled for more frequent updat...

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New Fish Babies!

On Sunday, after a tip-off from my faithful geeky betta fish forum, we went to Leigh to have a look at some crowntail bettas (aka Siamese fighting fish, although of course they are kept apart so they can't get to each other or cause each other damage) they had in. I've had some bad luck with my fish in the last few months and lost a couple of very gorgeous and expensive males, so was happy to pick up these two pretty little fellows for less than...

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Notorious Kitsch Giveaway at Yesterday Girl!

Jenny over at Yesterday Girl is having a fabulous giveaway sponsored by the marvellous Notorious Kitsch, in which you can win £50 to spend in their online store! Pop on over to enter and you could soon be lavishing fabulously retro gifts on your friends and family (or, you know, keeping them all for yourself). 'Cool for Cats' Christmas notecards, £5.50 'Bullitt' wall clock, £49 'Sew and Save' WWII notebook, £5...

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Oh, Kitschmas Tree!

This weekend, I put up my Christmas tree. In our house growing up, despite being atheists and the tree actually being a totemic emblem of Europe's pagan past, oddly religious rules were adhered to in that the tree was never put up until Christmas eve, was to be decorated tastefully in red and gold, and was generally low-key.The trees I remember most from my childhood however, were my paternal grandparents'. They always had a real fir tree which immediately...

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A Beautiful Box

I went to my mum's this week, and came home with this lovely old trinket box which was my Nanna's, and was either made by her or a friend. It is made from postcards covered in acetate and crocheted together with faded pink thread, I remember there being one made from seaside postcards too. She would have been ninety this month, I like to keep a lot of her things out on display in my home. It holds memories for me too because when I was little I always...

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That's a bit better...

What do we think of the new blog design? My grasp of programming can barely be described as 'basic', and I plan to make it better as soon as I learn h...

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Help!

Right... apparently Blogger has tricked me into upgrading to beta, and I now can't do anything with the coding because it's all in xml not html. If anyone has any knowledge of how to build your own layout using the new format, please let me know! Everything online is for the old format, and I hate every single one of the boring default templates available. I don't want to use someone else's, I want my own. B...

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Please excuse the mess...

I'm attempting to redesign my blog and am having trouble reconciling the design I am trying to create with the garbage that Blogger sees to wish to automatically apply and keeps copying over my self-designed layout. So, my blog will probably look a mess for a while! Bear with ...

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October's Vintage Purchases!

Only a small amount of vintage shopping has been done this month, because I am poor. The first two things; more fawns for my collection! This one is a double bud vase from the 1940s - 50s.I'm not sure about this one - it was made in Japan and from the paint and styling I'm guessing it's 1950s, but I think it might actually be a Christmas decoration or some sort of advertising display? The log is hollow as if you're meant to use it as a vase, but...

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Last day to get your entires in!

Don't forget ladies, it's your last chance to enter Shona's giveaway over at In The Heyday!She is giving away one of her lovely 'Fleur' dresses, so it's well worth winning.If you don't win, you can always pick one up from the Heyday online store, and don't forget to buy me some Navy Swing Trousers while you're there and the Olivia blouse in cherry print, when it's releas...

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Halloween Pumpkin Soup!

At the weekend, we went to Unicorn Grocery in Chorlton, a workers' co-operative selling gorgeous produce, deli items and vegan foods. As well as a massive haul of tofu and faux meat treats, we picked up some lovely fresh vegetables including a big slice of bright orange pumpkin. The produce section is well stocked with seasonal fruits and vegetables, and they grow many items themselves including the squash, cabbages and some fantastic looking Romanesco...

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The Bizarre Ball!

On Saturday, Aerospace Boyfriend and I and lots of our friends went to the first Manchester Bizarre Winter Ball, a big 'alternative' event run by Bizarre Magazine. There was burlesque performance by the fabulous Lola Pops, compereing by the wickedly funny Desmond O'Connor and onstage grotesqueries from The Circus of Horrors. Lola Pops!There have been a few complaints that the ball did not measure up to the quality of the London event, but all in...

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Imaginary Wardrobe Overhaul.

I am sick of my clothes. I find myself wearing the same two pencil skirts over and over again, have very few things that match each other, and I have no Winter clothing. My drawers are bulging with black cut-up band shirts which are only really any good for Summer, and I find myself at an awkward crux between my old punk wardrobe and the glamourous vintage wardrobe which I so desire - I've been uncomfortably stuck between the two for years now. I...

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Blog negligence and general stuff.

I haven't updated this in ages, mainly because I have had no money and have been doing not much that would be of any interest to anybody reading about it. A few highlights of the last few weeks:Apple Pie!It looks beautiful but its bottom was slightly soggy. Deceptive pie. Had a stall with some hats and some cakesBuilt a divided fish tank for my male Betta Splendens (Siamese fighting fish, hence the separators - they are very aggressive to other males...

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Lovely new hat pictures!

A while ago, I sent some of my hats over to Sweden to be photographed by the very talented pin-up photographer, Emmelie Åslin. When I finally get round to developing a proper website for my business, these will be some of the product shots. What do you think? These hats are some of my retro and psychobilly designs; I plan to do a seperate post with some of my more authentically vintage-looking reproduction 1940s - 50s millinery. Until then, I'm currently...

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