Hair today gone tomorrow

I've been a busy bee today preparing my stock for the The Dandy Lion Market on Saturday.
Here's a sneaky-peek preview of  most of the stock that I'll be bringing with me...

Prices will range from £5 to £30 and there will be a bargain box too.
I've still to sort out some bags, shoes, accessories & knick-knacks  to bring but I'll do that tomorrow.
Here are some random 'label, print and detail' close-ups...

I'm bringing a few bits for the boys too...

This is where I'll be trading on Saturday...

Like I mentioned in Tuesday's post the event is a get together with Oxfam to celebrate International Women's Day.

It will help raise funds to support women living in poverty around the world.

I have pledged 10% of my takings and I've also donated a retro 80s coffee jar filled with coffee sweets for the tombola.

If you are in Kentish Town on the day please pop in and see me and all the other fabulous sellers ;)

This was today's ensemble...

After reading Olga's post yesterday I was inspired to wear one of my African blouse tops.

Olga's blog is called Local Fashion and it has an amazing back catalogue of interesting posts, it's blooming fabulous!

Abstract print African blouse top, sequin leggings, 80s cropped jacket, Moschino belt, Indian block print chiffon wrap,  80s worm-coil earrings, 80s boots & Tibetan prayer bangle. 

 Other news...
Today I got so fed up with my natty hair, I made hubby cut it for me, so now it's in a sort of bob style.
I'm not a big fan of going to the hairdressers so I very seldom do.
My hair is so tremendously flimsy & fine, it takes any hairdresser about two minutes to cut it and it just feels like a waste of money to be honest.
Another thing that really gets my goat about hairdressers is that even if you wash your hair yourself five minutes before the appointment, they go...
-"We still have to wash your hair!"
-"Why, do you not trust my hair washing ability?"
I know that quite a few of my blogging buddies trim their own tresses too, so I'm in good company :)
After all it's only hair & it will grow out again eventually.
Hope you will have a groovetastic Friday folks, here's a tune to put you in the mood...

 Lot's of love,
Jennie
xXx

Frocktasia on the road

Yesterday was a big day for me; it was the first time I took Frocktasia on the road and left the comfort zone of my home office and computer screen behind.

It's kind of strange that someone who has spent most their adult life working in hospitality, should be at all nervous about the face-to-face aspect of selling at markets but quite frankly, I was bricking it!

For years I've been the bighearted barmaid who's always ready to have a chat about anything to anyone but for some bonkers reason when it came to doing the very same thing for myself, punting something other than beer, I felt as if I was facing Everest.

It's some sort of weird-ass personality paradox going on here I'm sure.

However, I cannot remain a home-office strummer if I want to become a proper frockstar, I have to grab the scary bull by its horns and override my inexplicable hang-ups.

Yesterday was the first step in that direction and a step well worth taking!

I'm such a fusspot worrier so I got about half an hours sleep the night before. 

Here I am setting up in the morning and being quite nervous about it all... 

I should have brought more knick-knacks to dress my table as it did look a little bit bare.

I'm going play around with table dressing at home before the next outing... 

There are certainly a few things that I will be doing differently next time.

I ran out of time (read: was struck down by a bad case of bone idle laziness) before I could mark up all my items individually, so I just went out and bought a packet of neon star labels and divided my stock into four price categories (£3/£5/£10/£20).

Next time I'll do something like this instead, it looks a wee bit more professional...

Some of Jet's lovely vintage blouses.

My stall neighbor, the lovely Leslie is a real professional when it comes to setting up an inviting stall I think you'll agree... 

 Leslie is a regular seller at the vintage jumble but she also organizes The Dandy Lion Market at The Oxford in Kentish Town on the first Saturday of every month.

I'm popping along to check it out next week if anyone is interested in coming along?

Leslie makes fabulous scatter cushions and hot water bottle covers from recycled vintage fabrics and clothing...

Here she is tempting me with an awesomely groovy vintage blouse that

I would have snapped up in a heartbeat if it wasn't for the fact that I was under strict instructions not to buy anything...

The Boogaloo is a really cool pub and even though yesterday wasn't exactly heaving customer wise we still had a fab time. There's a DJ playing all day, you can get some seriously scrumptious looking cake and of course beer...who ever came up with the idea of having a vintage market in a pub should be given a medal!

 Some more of my fellow jumblers and their fabulously dressed stalls...

 Besides Leslie's poppy print blouse, I would have loved to buy that stunning green and gold caftan...

 Mark was kind enough to come along and hung around all day to give me moral support, what a star :)

Speaking of stars, I had a very special visitor...

Lovely Sara from Hello The Mushroom popped in with her friend Iain and that really made my day. 

Even though we've never met before I felt instantly at ease, she's got a smile like a thousand sunbeams and it was a real shot in the arm that she came along. 

I hope that we can meet up again soon for some bloggy charity shopping  perhaps?!

Sara has got an amazing blog that I couldn't recommend highly enough, it makes for great reading and she takes delightful photos too, a perfect mix in my opinion, if you are not already a follower, you are missing out!

So you may very well be wondering if I will be able to retire on my takings of the day...

Nope, but it was the perfect gentle start to my face-to-face selling career.

I met some really lovely people and I now know what I can improve on until next time cause there will definitely be a next time...hopefully very soon :)

Today I slept in until late & then we popped to the park to feed Lilo.

I think she recognizes my voice now, cause when we arrived she was down by the pond drinking but when I called for her she came running up to us waiting for me to bring my baggie of seed out. She eats straight out of my hand and she's not scared of me at all. Every few days I bring the birds some finely chopped fresh greens too, they absolutely love it.

Here is today's ensemble:

Vintage 50s velvet jacket, 60s maxi dress, two pairs of tights, 90s skirt  (worn as underskirt as it was decidedly Baltic out there today), 90s velvet boots, velvet gloves, sequin beret & spiderweb print scarf.

I hope you've all had a fab & funderful weekend!

I'm off to check out what you've all been up to on your blogs now...see ya!

Lot's of love,

Jennie

xXx

Markets, creative juice and more undercrackers

Today I visited the Princess May car boot sale in Stoke Newington and Netil Market  in Hackney.

For once I didn't go as a buyer, I was merely scoping them out to see if they'd be any good to sell at. 

At most car boot sales you pretty much know what to expect, punters want bargains and you have to make like ASDA and stack 'em high and sell 'em low.
Netil Market was a bit of a disappointment cause I was expecting something a lot bigger, don't get me wrong the quality of what was on offer was perfectly good but I prefer my markets to have a glut of stalls with lots of stuff on them.
Maybe it's just me but I feel a bit awkward stopping at a stall that has just got a few bits laid out on it and when you pick something up the seller gives you a "don't touch the precious things of the shop" death stare!
I'll definitely keep it in mind but
I'm checking out a few more places tomorrow so hopefully I can find one that's even more to my liking.
Travelling to Hackney from my pad is also a bit of a drag as the bus takes ages.

When I got back home I spent the rest of the day/evening making adornments and flicking through vintage mail-order catalogues.

I made these funky Twiggy inspired earrings for the shop... 

and two threaded bead necklaces...

...and one horse brass necklace, I named it 

'You've Got To Pick A Pocket Or Two'...

I really love it and I'm very tempted to keep it but I'm not going to.

The rest of the evening was spent flicking through a number of old mail order catalogues from the 70s that my mum bought for me a couple of years ago. 

When I was a kid my sister and I would cozy up in bed on a Saturday morning with one of these and play a very simple game in which we had to pick one favourite thing from every page of the catalogue but we weren't allowed to pick the same item...I really loved that game!

I remember we would giggle our little faces off when we got to the mens underwear section :)

I found more panties than you can shake a stick at...not that I'm obsessed or anything!

Bring back psychedelic print on undercrackers!

Oo'er Missus!

When it comes to undies I prefer the good old retro shaped brief, I'm not a fan of flimsy thongs or frilly knickers!

Last but by no means least here are some for the boys :)

Do guys still wear Long Johns?

Chicks are lucky, we've got tights and leggings for when it gets Baltic outside.

I promise no more undergarment related posts for a while now, I just wanted to share these fab old catalogue pics with you all.

Have a great Sunday!

Lot's of love,

Jennie

xXx