Some new treasures.

I’ve been lucky enough to have received some special books since Christmas. Here are a selection of the most recent, all gifts from some lovely people.

A Year In Japan by Kate T. Williamson – From my Mum

Pattern Sourcebook : Japanese Style by Shigeki Nakamura – From my Mum

1950′s Fashion Print by Marnie Fogg – From my cousin, Lucy, as a thank you gift

Retro Fonts by Gregor Stawinski - From my sister and her husband for Christmas

Angie Lewin : Plants and Places by Leslie Geddes Brown – From my Mum

Lotta Jansdotter Stencils by Lotta Jansdotter - From my Mum

Butterfly by Thomas Marent - From my husband

And I love every single one of them.

P.S This is my 100th post. I can’t quite believe I’ve had that much to say. Thank you to everyone who keeps coming back and supporting my work. I hope I can manage another 100. Salut!

e·phem·er·a ~ things that exist for only a short time

A couple of weekends ago, we went to The Ephemera Fair in Birmingham at the National Motorcycle Museum. I don’t know how I came across something of this nature was going down. Probably one of my useless six hour interweb surfing sessions earlier this year. Which as it goes, didn’t turn out to be useless, because The Ephemera Fair was like being in old-smelly-paper heaven. It was crammed full to the door (besides a large proportion of silver surfers) of vintage books, postcards, tickets, magazines, newspapers. You name it. Anything recording something on paper pre-1980, could probably be found here. Beyond the musty aroma wafting through the air, I came across some really quite lovely things. And I purchased them. The thought did cross my mind at the time that I was literally paying for an old pointless bit of paper. However, when emotion gets in the way, and your eyes become the size of traffic lights caused by having the aesthetic-appreciation part of your brain tickled, that doesn’t matter. I fell in love.

Magazine insert advertising ’Lux Soap Powder’. Colour lithograph by artist Will Owen (1869 – 1957) – Circa 1915 (Source – The Bridgeman Art Library)

Finding a diamond in the rough.

A diamond is a diamond. There’s no getting away from that fact. However, sometimes, a diamond can mean something else to someone. And thats precisely the point I’m slowly trying to get to. (*rolling eyes) I love. No. Not love. Thats an understatement. I have to harness my huge predilection when I walk into a charity shop. Especially with the new one I was introduced to by my mum last week. It’s called Emmaus and its not a charity shop. Its a village. Here’s a statement from their website about what they do:

“Emmaus Village Carlton is a homeless charity based in North Bedfordshire offering active support to formerly homeless people and we provide what we think of as a real workable alternative to homelessness.”

It’s a bit of a strange place when you approach it. You would never expect to find it where its located. But, its definitely a diamond in the rough. And alot of good charity work is being done, thats obvious.

Here are some of the treasures I bought, for literally, pence.

These bookends were £1.50. Ridiculous. And I LOVE them. I can’t wait to use them somewhere in our new office.

Ooh, actually. This honey pot wasn’t from Emmaus. It was from an antique shop from a nearby market town. I had it wrapped up in bubble wrap for the last eight months, so I wanted to photograph it. I also love this very much. My husband bought it for me.

This is going to be a nice little paintbrush holder for the office.

I bought the childrens book of prayer for its illustrations, not for its words, since I’m not religious. They’re very reminiscent of all the birthday cards my mum still has from my 1st birthday back in 1979. Probably why I love all this stuff so much. I think my mum was cringing at everything I picked up. And probably wishing she hadn’t thrown all her stuff out years ago, so she could make a dime or two off me.