vinyl player

one of my blog follwers, nikki, asked whether i could advertise her deliciously retro vinyl player on my blog, ages ago (sorry nikki, i totally forgot) and so here it is! please contact her on nikki.lincoln@gmail.com and she'd like r800 neg for it. grab it!!!!!!!!!! its super hot!

pianos and bambi's

this is what my mornings are like in stanford. first, i tinkle on the ol ivories cos i'm supposed to be writing a cabaret to be performed by december. then, i admire my mothers bambi collection and wonder when my forest figurine collection with ever be as great. then we give our mannequin, clarice, her hangover breakfast cos its clear that she's had a dirty stop over. then we wait for customers.

i'm so happy i've found pony

angie

good grief, what a great thing to find on a boring sunday morning.....lucky pony, a funny, tickle me pink, all things that i love blog, created by a young art director. i don't know much yet about the author, angie, but i do know that she is married to one of the boys from desmond and the tutu's, totally one of my favourite happiest bands! i'm actually extremely jealous, i can't look anymore...you'll see why! lucky pony blog

flickr and beatnik bazaar

i love creating new collages on flickr, which you can access via the picture of my model on the right hand side of my blog. keep checking back to find images of new things i put in the store.

leather satchels

kim gray is selling the most gorgeous leather satchel/sling bags on her blog, with a complimentary lip balm to boot. i just love the soft worn look and feel of the bags and can definitely see myself cycling around stanford with one securely slung across my body, with a floaty floral dress on and the wind tousling my hair. hmmmmmmmmm that reminds me of the blog, 'riding pretty,' dedicated to the art of looking vintagely suave (love how i can make words up on my own blog) on two wheels!

cubes for sale!

hey guys, i'm selling some display units that i am not using anymore and am offering my blog readers a far better price than they are listed for sale in the classifieds. they are currently being used to display things in someone else's shop. the big one is 2m high and 1.5 across and is r1900 and the smaller one is r1100. they will be transported to cape town for r300. let me know if you like them!

seeing red!

red is my favourite colour as i'm sure you can tell by today's window display at my shop.

retro coffee pot

before i could even list this retro coffee pot on my blog, a bumped into a friend of mine, gina, of miss molly, and showed her a picture of it on my phone. she snapped it up immediately, as she is a keen camper and just returned from a camping trip in spain, no less! so i'm delivering this to her today, as well as volume 1-20 of the make it yourself series from the 1970's. i have my own set and the books never ceases to inspire and delight me. they are jam packed with the most stunning knitting and sewing patterns, cross-stitch ideas, crochet patterns, folk art motifs and interior decorating ideas.

the beauty of vintage

the way i feel about 50's, 60's and 70's vintage kitchenalia and such, is the way some people might feel about a new boyfriend, twilight or robert pattinson - its my obsession! i can't really understand people who don't love it! i found this today, at misery mile, where you can have a grand shopping experience on the small change in your purse. The things i love are rarely worth anything because i love things for their patterns as opposed to their value. i was at a stall and was drawn to a pretty serving dish, and was told that it was r750. now, regardless of whether it is worth that overseas, i can't understand the mentality of people at a revolting market with an awful excuse for a stall, charging that amount of money for things. it goes against the cycle of things, and its an absolute cheek. he proceeded to explain that he was tired of having ppl buy his things, just to sell it for much more, when he's the one who does all the work. i wanted to tell him that they have zero overheads, when, as a shop owner, i am constantly pouring money into my little store DAILY, to make it pretty, to pay rent, for a credit card machine, internet and a phone line rental, to pay staff, to improve the aesthetics, to better the lighting, to fill it with stock, to pay for designs and adverts etc etc, and i would never dream of selling a plate at r750 because i am not 'christies' in london! i found a charity store near my home that does the same thing....charging thousands for some tea sets and ornaments, when they were given the stuff for free and are given lower rent and have staff volunteering for them. i just think its so wrong!

spring sale photos

the market on saturday was really quaint and gorgeous and it was great to see frances (my china and flickglass)and her beautiful baby, mariejie (skermunkil), who i haven't seen for months as she was in india, nicky (gwen loves harold) and my friends who popped by. i only managed to take about 6 pictures before my phone died! thanks everyone for a lovely day!

i'm hoping for great weather and an even better turn out for the spring sale in muizies tomorrow. take a look at the gallery of images from previous sales here.

more unpacking

most of my things are arriving on friday night only, with a friend who happened to be up in hermanus this week, but here are some more bits and pieces i've been cleaning and unpacking. this midwinter tureen is part of an entire dinner service, called 'madeira,' that i'll be selling on saturday. so be there early! the atomic design below is also by midwinter and all plates and bowls average r20 - r30 each.

unpacking

i'm going to be unpacking boxes of stuff from my shop all week, that are being couriered to my house, for the indie designer spring sale in muizenberg. take a peek...

designer spring sale in muizenberg this saturday

come join us at the indie design spring sale at 24 dartmouth rd, muizenberg, this saturday!

my first ad

today's draft of the ad!

my shop had such wonderful exposure in so many glossy mags from the month it opened, that i have never thought of placing an ad before, but my friend lynne from hello again shop, told me about some ad space available in her new magazine, 'heart shaped bar code.' i jumped at the chance and want to show you. its a full a5 page, in black and white....

nobody said it would be easy, but nobody said it would be this hard.

my first space,10 months ago, 2 weeks before i opened my shop, started on 2 months salary!
my third premises

let me let you in to a little secret that shop and business owners don't tell many people.....it aint the dream we thought it would be, to have our own businesses. its a soul journey that teaches you life lessons, almost every step of the way. dealing with debt constantly, loans, lack of customers, quiet times, low season, mounting bills, more loans, more expenses, more debt.....its hard on the emotions and the psyche. and on top of it all, we take it personally when you don't even make the effort to walk into the shops that we have spent years investing everything that we have in us, every cent, every ounce of passion, and you just hover at the entrance. we take it personally when you can't even make the effot to say, 'its lovely...' when we invite you in, when you are a friend or a family member! lie, if necessary, for goodness sake! it takes its toll and there are times when you realise why so many people play it safe working for other people, working for salaries, in their glorious 9-5 lives. salary, whats that? a small business owner can only take a tiny salary about 3 years in! so imagine the pressure of trying to support your child on your own and yet ironically it was my child that prompted me to start my own business so that i could spend more time with him. its hard, its trying, its character forming and it makes me feel fragile, yet i couldn't imagine doing anything else. all i can hope for is that it will all have been worth it in the end.

new rabbits and crochet blankets

here are some new handmade beautiful things in the shop to feast your eyes on...

my work space

my loft room looking out onto the nature reserve and mountains in this gingerbread cottage of a house.

my neighbour

the forest fauna looked on...

my neighbour came over with her child and i showed her some things i am working on in my bedroom/workspace. her gorgeous son taig looked so photogenic as he played and i couldn't resist taking some pics of him. my loft room is so huge that i've long been planning to install a rustic slipper bath, to add the perfect lounge suite and even a kitchenette.....i think the bath is first on the list. there's still so much to be done, but i've made use of some charity store finds to give it some personality in the mean time...since owning a shop i have not been able to keep ONE thing, one cup or anything for myself and have been living in a bare house, it is weird, i don't think many other shop owners go through it, although i know some designers who do!

cute retro

i have some really cute retro in the shop this weekend, have a look!

tagged

i've been tagged by fellow blogger lana, of lanalou blog and i must share 10 things about myself that you don't know. wow, the broadness of the subject is overwhelming, but i'll give it a go!

1. my first job was fronting a rock 'n roll band from the age of 15.

2. my ambition from when i was young, through high school, was to be a prima ballerina and i studied ballet as a subject in school right until the last grade. i then went off the rails!

3. i was once offered a job singing at 5 star hotels around the world for a year, and i turned it down!

4. i used to dance in a shop window in vintage corsets and tutus as part of my job, a little while ago.

5. when my motorbike was stolen, i saw someone riding it a few weeks later and i demanded it back and rode it home. the police were amazed.

6. one of my ambitions is to write children's books someday.

7. my favourite breakfast is strawberries, rasberries and blueberries, with honey and greek yoghurt.

8. i've made a love potion with my sister, that turned out really badly! eek

9. my favourite place in south africa is the transkei.

10. i am a chocolate addict in recovery :)

i'd like to tag lynne of hello again blog, marietjie of een dag op n reendag, wendren of the wren blog, denise of freshly found, jess of jezze blog, mieke willems and nina of nina in vorm.

vintage for sale

i have 2 sets of beeeeeeeeeautiful original vintage curtains for sale in really great condition, one of them in a cotton mix fabric (pictured here with birds) for R300 for 2 drops and one in silk, also in blue tones, which are heavy and exquisite, for R450. i've also found a full set of volumes 1-20 of the 'make it yourself' series, in brilliant condition.

all the difference

i'm back in cape town after a great weekend at my shop and i am really stoked that the shelving in my store has made it look full and complete. i'll spend my next few days sourcing new, vintage and retro stock and will return to my store, as always, with a car laden full of interesting beatnik finds! i also have to source wallpaper samples, so i have alot to do before the week is through. i'm really looking forward to season this year and its comforting to know that my shop has been received so well in its new beautiful location.

patchwork wallpaper

i'm planning to create a patchwork of vintage wallpapers on my shop walls and i've been shopping around online, locally and abroad and i have to show you my favourites so far! imagine how gorgeous all of these would look together...hmmmm. all wallpapers available on etsy, besides for the last one, which is locally designed by 'decor wallpapers'